3 ms·
IIRC JWST is not actually at the Lagrange point, but it drifts a bit, and occasionally fixes itself.
by PartiallyTyped 3y ago
IIRC JWST is not actually at the Lagrange point, but it drifts a bit, and occasionally fixes itself.
- pests 3y agoA sibling comment to yours points out that it actually orbits the L2 at the same distance the moon orbits the Earth and takes 6 months to complete a revolution.
- PartiallyTyped 3y agoYes, the orbit isn't exact / perfect/ stable either [1]. > An L2 orbit is unstable, so JWST needs to use propellant to maintain its halo orbit around L2 (known as station-keeping) to prevent the telescope from drifting away from its orbital position.[186] It was designed to carry enough propellant for 10 years,[187] but the precision of the Ariane 5 launch and the first midcourse correction were credited with saving enough onboard fuel that JWST may be able to maintain its orbit for around 20 years instead.[188][189][190] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Webb_Space_Telescope https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Webb_Space_Telescope