James Webb Space Telescope, information, updates and discussion |
James Webb Space Telescope, information, updates and discussion |
Aug 23 2005, 02:01 PM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 134 Joined: 13-March 05 Member No.: 191 |
The manufacture of the JWST mirror blanks has now been completed.
Despite this milestone, the fate of JWST is still somewhat precarious, because although the scientific bang from the telescope is expected to be huge, the bucks required have increased to a staggering $4.5 billion. A Space.com article on the squeeze in NASA's space-based astronomy plans gives some background. The JWST home page can be found here. The Space Telescope Science Institute, which runs Hubble, also has a site here. As does ESA. |
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Dec 29 2021, 04:59 PM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 191 Joined: 20-November 06 From: Saint Louis Member No.: 1376 |
NASA is reporting that they have already used less fuel than anticipated, so a longer mission is now possible.
NASA Says Webb’s Excess Fuel Likely to Extend its Lifetime Expectations -------------------- - Matt
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Dec 29 2021, 05:25 PM
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2530 Joined: 20-April 05 Member No.: 321 |
The possibility of a longer lifetime is phenomenally good news. The observational demands of exoplanet atmosphere studies alone – to say nothing of all of the other competing priorities – is going to require years of observation, and one paper regarding the TRAPPIST-1 system alone determined that if astronomers could only plan on 6 years of JWST operation, they would need to coordinate as a community to get a baseline amount of observation completed in that time. (This is further constrained by the constraints of pointing away from the Sun and near-ecliptic targets like TRAPPIST-1 having a limited interval each year during which observation is possible.)
Even a substantial increase in lifetime will still leave many desirable observations unattainably expensive in terms of observation time. If we had 10 JWSTs with lifetimes of 20 years each, they'd each be booked for every second of their time. Time is going to be a precious, finite, and ultimately scarce resource for this mission. |
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