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It's a hard limit due needing fuel to maintain its orbit. It's in a lagrange point (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagrange_point https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L
by ditn 5y ago
It's a hard limit due needing fuel to maintain its orbit. It's in a lagrange point (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagrange_point https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagrange_point) which requires occasional orbital corrections.
- CuriousCosmic 5y agoWell it's not strictly a hard limit but it's currently planned to be a hard limit. If SpaceX can pull off even a fraction of what they claim with Starship, it's not unrealistic to think that it'd be financially viable to attempt a refuelling of the JWST.
- ditn 5y agoThat's an event I'd like to see!
- ortusdux 5y agoIIRC, it was also not designed to be serviceable.
- terramex 5y agoIt has a docking ring for potential service mission.
- Tuna-Fish 5y ago-ish. They have no firm plans for servicing it, but it does have a docking adapter and the fuel/coolant connections are designed to be usable in space. Basically, because there is no reasonable way to service something in L2, they can't really plan for it, but it's expensive enough that they made sure there is the capability if someone in the future would, say, build a spaceship that is orbitally refuelable and designed so it can take crew that far out.
- mcdonje 5y agoYes and no. Fuel is the limiting factor, but it could go beyond a decade. See here: https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/55309/james-webb-telescope-limits-to-propellant-lifetime https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/55309/james-webb-t...
- edg-l 5y agoa good video about lagrange points https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gu4vA2ztgGM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gu4vA2ztgGM