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Hard part is done- now for the really scary part. Hundreds of deployment steps will follow. Each one has to go perfectly. If it doesn't, the JWST fails and ten

by mabbo 5y ago

Hard part is done- now for the really scary part. Hundreds of deployment steps will follow. Each one has to go perfectly. If it doesn't, the JWST fails and tens of billions of dollars and 30 years wasted (by some definition of 'waste'). But for every single one of those steps, an incredible amount of work has been done to ensure that it cannot fail. But if any step fails, there's no repair mission possible for at least a decade or more.

garaetjjte 5y ago
>there's no repair mission possible for at least a decade or more. There's no repair mission possible, period. It only has enough fuel to keep orbiting L2 for around 10 years.
- sixQuarks 5y ago
  You don't think SpaceX would formulate an attempt to fix it?
  - 1_player 5y ago
    Why is there this obsession for a private company to be the champion of public science? Am I the only one that hasn't bought SpaceX shares? AFAIK there is the goal for NASA to work on a robotic refueling system, I don't know how official is that, but they have 10 years to come up with something.
    - drexlspivey 5y ago
      SpaceX is not a public company so almost nobody is able to buy shares
    - sixQuarks 5y ago
      Ummm Maybe it’s because SpaceX is able to innovate faster than any government entity?
      - thebigman433 5y ago
        They can, but why does anyone think that they actually would, without an absolutely massive contract from NASA? It would be a total departure from what they are currently working on, and would basically be a one off mission. There is no reason to think they would want to do this.
        sixQuarks 5y ago
        Who do you think nasa would contract it out to if it wasn’t SpaceX?
    - timmytokyo 5y ago
      Just watched "Don't Look Up" on Netflix last night. It's about a space mission designed to save the planet from a comet. It did a nice job of satirizing the misplaced faith so many Americans have in eccentric billionaires.
tzfld 5y ago
Yes, somewhat stressful: "JWST has 344 single-point failures, 80% of which are in deployment systems"
C19is20 5y ago
I said it on a different thread...why not build two (while they're at it)?
- Grismar 5y ago
  Either it works and that would be a waste of additional billions, or it doesn't and there would be no guarantee the second wouldn't have the same critical mistake. This is not about rolling the dice, it's about putting every bit of effort and attention you can muster into one attempt - splitting that, even a little, reduces the odds of the main attempt working. If it does end up failing, and let's pray to Bill's god and others it doesn't, we're better off trying something else in a few decades, or something simpler and more focused sooner.

by mabbo 5y ago

garaetjjte 5y ago

>there's no repair mission possible for at least a decade or more. There's no repair mission possible, period. It only has enough fuel to keep orbiting L2 for around 10 years.

sixQuarks 5y ago
You don't think SpaceX would formulate an attempt to fix it?
- 1_player 5y ago
  Why is there this obsession for a private company to be the champion of public science? Am I the only one that hasn't bought SpaceX shares? AFAIK there is the goal for NASA to work on a robotic refueling system, I don't know how official is that, but they have 10 years to come up with something.
  - drexlspivey 5y ago
    SpaceX is not a public company so almost nobody is able to buy shares
  - sixQuarks 5y ago
    Ummm Maybe it’s because SpaceX is able to innovate faster than any government entity?
    - thebigman433 5y ago
      They can, but why does anyone think that they actually would, without an absolutely massive contract from NASA? It would be a total departure from what they are currently working on, and would basically be a one off mission. There is no reason to think they would want to do this.
      - sixQuarks 5y ago
        Who do you think nasa would contract it out to if it wasn’t SpaceX?
  - timmytokyo 5y ago
    Just watched "Don't Look Up" on Netflix last night. It's about a space mission designed to save the planet from a comet. It did a nice job of satirizing the misplaced faith so many Americans have in eccentric billionaires.

tzfld 5y ago

Yes, somewhat stressful: "JWST has 344 single-point failures, 80% of which are in deployment systems"

C19is20 5y ago

I said it on a different thread...why not build two (while they're at it)?

Grismar 5y ago
Either it works and that would be a waste of additional billions, or it doesn't and there would be no guarantee the second wouldn't have the same critical mistake. This is not about rolling the dice, it's about putting every bit of effort and attention you can muster into one attempt - splitting that, even a little, reduces the odds of the main attempt working. If it does end up failing, and let's pray to Bill's god and others it doesn't, we're better off trying something else in a few decades, or something simpler and more focused sooner.