JWST can do xxxx

[notFritzArgelander]

I've grown bored with starting new threads about what JWST might accomplish if it is ever launched. I'm sure that some folks are bored with my annoyance at the budget and cost overruns too. So rather than start a new thread for every feel good PR article in the campaign I'm going to just update this one.

https://phys.org/news/2020-02-nasa-webb ... table.html

[Makuser]

Hi nFA. I agree completely. The constant delays and cost overuns, as well as the fact that a couple of test instruments won't be included from the original plans is appalling. We just retired the Spitzer Telescope recently and the Hubble Telescope isn't going to last forever, so let's get that James Webb Telescope launched soon.

[helicon]

Good luck JWST! You're gonna need it.

[notFritzArgelander]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswith ... 627b051e1b

[Thefatkitty]

Better get it up there before Starlink, etc...

[bladekeeper]

Better get it up there before Starlink, etc...

I'm counting on a fleet of US Space Force TIE fighters to serve escort duty and clear the path to orbit.

[UlteriorModem]

Go big or go home.... Bleeping do it already!

[notFritzArgelander]

JWST will look at ice giants....

https://phys.org/news/2020-02-ice-giant ... scope.html

[notFritzArgelander]

JWST will look at the birthplaces of massive stars....

https://phys.org/news/2020-04-piercing- ... stars.html

[notFritzArgelander]

JWST will sort out the composition of the Trapezium cluster....

https://phys.org/news/2020-04-nasa-webb ... ddles.html

[SkyHiker]

I just got used to spending two trillion here, half a trillion there, half a trillion yet to come. The JWST sounds like a bargain! Let's get it up there and make sure that it deploys without having to send a repair mission - because we can't. If it delivers, wow.

[notFritzArgelander]

I just got used to spending two trillion here, half a trillion there, half a trillion yet to come. The JWST sounds like a bargain! Let's get it up there and make sure that it deploys without having to send a repair mission - because we can't. If it delivers, wow.

It is a necessary follow up to Hubble and a complement to WFIRST from which I actually expect very interesting science.

Of course we could quibble given the bloat over the originally planned cost and schedule whether it's really a bargain. But the milk is spilt and there's no rebottling it. We need better management of these large projects.

[notFritzArgelander]

passes critical deployment test

https://phys.org/news/2020-06-tower-ext ... james.html

[UlteriorModem]

passes critical deployment test

https://phys.org/news/2020-06-tower-ext ... james.html

Would have been really cool if they had a time lapse video of the thing opening. Of course when you get it up into micro gravity it's a whole new ball game.

[notFritzArgelander]

The JWST will map the early universe. If it only gets deployed .....

https://phys.org/news/2020-06-early-uni ... scope.html

[notFritzArgelander]

JWST could enable the 3D study of quasars effects on host galaxies.

https://phys.org/news/2020-08-space-tel ... axies.html

[helicon]

Thanks for keeping the thread going notFritz. Interesting article.

[Buckethead 2.0]

And there are 300 events that could go wrong after launch, so the probability numbers go through the roof. My bet is at least one of those mirrors won't open up all the way. Just a hunch...

[notFritzArgelander]

And there are 300 events that could go wrong after launch, so the probability numbers go through the roof. My bet is at least one of those mirrors won't open up all the way. Just a hunch...

It’s certainly a risk. I’d preferred a concept where the telescope would have been assembled in LEO where maintenance would be possible. Once checkout was fine strap a booster to it and send it to the Lagrange point. I think it would have been cheaper too.

[Buckethead 2.0]

And there are 300 events that could go wrong after launch, so the probability numbers go through the roof. My bet is at least one of those mirrors won't open up all the way. Just a hunch...

It’s certainly a risk. I’d preferred a concept where the telescope would have been assembled in LEO where maintenance would be possible. Once checkout was fine strap a booster to it and send it to the Lagrange point. I think it would have been cheaper too.

Good point. Hubble was fixable thankfully, because we could reach it. But when this puppy is a million miles away, forget it.