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Makes me wonder if it would have been smarter to build it in a modular way with different pieces being sent up one at a time, assembled on the ISS, then launche

Makes me wonder if it would have been smarter to build it in a modular way with different pieces being sent up one at a time, assembled on the ISS, then launched in the direction it needed to go.

jandrese 5y ago
Then you have multiplied your launch risk by the number of launches it would take to get it up there, plus there is the difficulty of assembling it in orbit. The only other project built like that was the ISS, and it took decades and a launch vehicle that no longer flies. The biggest problem would be that it would be in the ISS orbit, which would require a lot of delta-V to get it to its final orbit.
- jbay808 5y ago
  An advantage of assembling it in ISS orbit is that you have DEXTRE and a team of spacewalking astronauts available to do the unpacking and assembly!
echelon 5y ago
Or an altogether different design: thousands of cheap, totally fungible sensors in an array at the L2 point. Not only would they be replaceable, but we could increase capacity in the future.
- petschge 5y ago
  Except that interferometry at IR is still extremely hard.
dekhn 5y ago
humanity has a lot of experience building reliable one-offs, actually a lot more experience and a lot better experience than with modularity and bits and pieces. I'm a software engineer by trade but every time I look into industry (ship building, skyscrapers, etc) you realize: that aphorism about software engineers, woodpeckers and civilization was absolutely right.
- Something1234 5y ago
  "If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker that came along would destroy civilization." ~ Gerald Weinberg. For those who don't know what the quote is. I found it here[1]. [1]: http://www.ganssle.com/articles/programmingquotations.htm http://www.ganssle.com/articles/programmingquotations.htm
- bumby 5y ago
  Can you explain the colloquialism a bit? Is it a knock on modular design? Having worked both in construction and software, modular design seems fairly common in both.

Makes me wonder if it would have been smarter to build it in a modular way with different pieces being sent up one at a time, assembled on the ISS, then launched in the direction it needed to go.

jandrese 5y ago

Then you have multiplied your launch risk by the number of launches it would take to get it up there, plus there is the difficulty of assembling it in orbit. The only other project built like that was the ISS, and it took decades and a launch vehicle that no longer flies. The biggest problem would be that it would be in the ISS orbit, which would require a lot of delta-V to get it to its final orbit.

jbay808 5y ago
An advantage of assembling it in ISS orbit is that you have DEXTRE and a team of spacewalking astronauts available to do the unpacking and assembly!

echelon 5y ago

Or an altogether different design: thousands of cheap, totally fungible sensors in an array at the L2 point. Not only would they be replaceable, but we could increase capacity in the future.

petschge 5y ago
Except that interferometry at IR is still extremely hard.

dekhn 5y ago

humanity has a lot of experience building reliable one-offs, actually a lot more experience and a lot better experience than with modularity and bits and pieces. I'm a software engineer by trade but every time I look into industry (ship building, skyscrapers, etc) you realize: that aphorism about software engineers, woodpeckers and civilization was absolutely right.

Something1234 5y ago
"If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker that came along would destroy civilization." ~ Gerald Weinberg. For those who don't know what the quote is. I found it here[1]. [1]: http://www.ganssle.com/articles/programmingquotations.htm http://www.ganssle.com/articles/programmingquotations.htm
bumby 5y ago
Can you explain the colloquialism a bit? Is it a knock on modular design? Having worked both in construction and software, modular design seems fairly common in both.