4 ms·
Does anybody know exactly how unstable L2 is? I've seen lots of people talk about how some Lagrange points are stable and others are unstable, but I've never b
by Dayshine 5y ago
Does anybody know exactly how unstable L2 is?
I've seen lots of people talk about how some Lagrange points are stable and others are unstable, but I've never been able to find a source for how much this matters.
How long would it take for Webb to move so far off L2 that we can't communicate with it anymore, or for it to be at risk of being completely thrown out of orbit to the point that it would impact earth or the sun?
- andrewflnr 5y agoIt matters enough that "over ten years" of fuel left (as we supposedly have now) is a really great outcome, as opposed to just five we might have form. Scott Manley on YouTube has a pretty good video on Lagrange points (and it's a topic where the video medium is actually pretty helpful).
- dTal 5y agoThe failure mode of straying too far from L2 is the inability to shield the highly sensitive optics from both the Earth-Moon system and the Sun simultaneously.