3 ms·
> How long will it be breaking? (If at all, or of it is not already doing it). All* of it's acceleration was given by the rocket at launch, it has been constan
by sailingparrot 5y ago
> How long will it be breaking? (If at all, or of it is not already doing it).
All* of it's acceleration was given by the rocket at launch, it has been constantly "braking" since then as it's being pulled by earth's gravity, and it will reach L2 at same time it reaches a speed of 0.
* Not actually all in truth, since for margin of safety reason, the Ariane rocket purposefully imparted a lower than necessary speed, and the more precise thrusters on the JWST will be used to top it off with 3 different short burns (2 of which already happened), always staying just short of the required speed. The idea being that you want to make sure to be always missing a little bit of speed and readjust as needed, but never too much, as that is not recoverable, and the telescope would just drift away for ever.