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How much of the cost is the R&D vs. actual construction and launch? (In other words, how expensive would be fixing an issue and trying again actually be?)
by tgsovlerkhgsel 5y ago
How much of the cost is the R&D vs. actual construction and launch?
(In other words, how expensive would be fixing an issue and trying again actually be?)
- wongarsu 5y agoIt's hard to say, but for the JWST the design and R&D seems to have been the easier part [1]. In general it's uncommon to build a replacement satellite after an issue. Either you make a backup from the start, or you start over after failure. Making a one-off component often isn't all that much simpler just because you've already done it once a decade ago (and some parts of the JWST should be about a decade old by now). And if you commit to doing that all over again, might as well update the entire design to new capabilities and requirements. 1: https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/48902/are-there-any-estimates-for-cost-of-manufacturing-second-if-first-jwst-fails https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/48902/are-there-an...