My concern about the complexity of the Webb is that it seems too fragile, too much operating within a narrow limit of tolerance. But that is my serf-take on what the engineers have wrought. For something that orbits within the La Grange points I'd go for a different tech, namely a very large radio telescope, made from a graphene based material, laced with electronic goodies, that would unfurl like a solar sale is supposed to do. I do know that astrophysicists have proposed building a very large scale radio telescope within a crater on the lunar backside, but this has costs, unless this can be built without humans there, that would cause sticker shock. China, I could see doing this in order to promote their ascension to global rule. Definitely, a psychological and political. sell, or what was the Space Race for? Good luck with the wonderful, optical, Webb, and kudos to hanging something useful at L2 or L5.
-----Original Message----- From: John Clark <johnkcl...@gmail.com> To: 'Brent Meeker' via Everything List <everything-list@googlegroups.com> Sent: Sun, Dec 5, 2021 2:43 pm Subject: Re: The James Webb telescope On Sun, Dec 5, 2021 at 1:39 PM 'Brent Meeker' via Everything List <everything-list@googlegroups.com> wrote: > I wonder if they considered deploying the sun shield in low Earth orbit, where it could be repaired and then boosting off to the Lagrange-2 point? I thought of that too, but due to inefficient orbital dynamics I'm not sure there would be enough fuel to do that, also once that large and extremely delicate sunshield was fully deployed I don't think it could take the acceleration forces that would take it to Lagrange-2 without damage. John K Clark Brent On 12/5/2021 8:21 AM, John Clark wrote: Two weeks from Wednesday the long delayed 10 billion dollar James Webb telescope will finally be launched that could revolutionize our understanding of the universe; because native Hawaiian barbarians destroyed the 30 meter telescope which should've become operational several years ago but now never will, Web will be the first of a new generation of huge super sophisticated observatories. But I've got my fingers crossed, and the terror won't stop with a successful launch but will continue for the next 29 days. I'm especially worried about the delicate 5 layered 70 foot by 47 foot sunshield required to keep the telescope cold so it can detect the infrared light it was designed to find. Something that big obviously can't fit into the nosecone of a rocket so it must be tightly folded up origami style and be unfurled in space, but to do that 8 motors, 140 actuators, 150 latches, and 400 pulleys must behave exactly as they were designed to and do so in precise synchronization or the sunshield will tear and the entire project will fail. And, because it will not be in low earth orbit but at the Lagrange-2 point more than 900,000 miles from Earth, there is no possibility of an astronaut repair mission as happened with the Hubble telescope if something goes wrong. After 29 days the major dangers will be behind us but it will still take another 5 months for the telescope to cool down and be properly aligned before it can start doing any science. John K Clark See what's on my new list at Extropolis twj -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/everything-list/CAJPayv3FSDv0yaFCQA6T0m8PT_d9hDDPYZp3H9%3D-NYRktKNL9g%40mail.gmail.com. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/everything-list/b0530967-8f69-b745-2b4d-4c5125706294%40verizon.net. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/everything-list/CAJPayv0dAWipZ-ekYkamNJpd5uaMgriuFJ%2BRoAhdujUEQR4QPQ%40mail.gmail.com. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/everything-list/818896205.2934688.1638738589178%40mail.yahoo.com.
