So what do you guys feel about the JWST?
I think it's pretty cool how it could possibly tell us what exoplanets atmospheres are like (which could possibly show us a truly earth like planet)
It's basically hubble, but better.
Please dont blow up please dont blow up please dont blow up
>>7689847
>blows up
"Well boys, i guess we will have to wait a decade and a half because the NASA budget is abysmal"
>>7689831
honestly i love hexagons (my favorite shape) and i love that the JWST's mirror is going to be made of hexagons
obviously the science it will do is important, but i'm more distracted by how neat it looks
>>7689862
I got to see the mirrors being unpacked at Goddard, they look truly magnificent.
>>7689962
lucky
When does this get launched?
>>7689847
that would be so sad, is the probability that high?
>>7690088
Its supposed to be launched on an Ariane 5, and i think those have a rather high safety record. However there are quite a lot of things that can get fucked after launch as well. The sun-shade has to unfold, and the mirrors have to unfold, adjust them self and so on. Also, its at the L2 point, somewhat like 1,5 million km from earth, so sending anything up to fix anything ala Hubble is out of the question for now(maybe when/if Orion-SLS ever becomes operational). But they did manage to land a one-ton car on Mars, so I have high hopes!
>>7690103
Seeing the testing facilities in person on foot made me a true believer, at least extrapolating from what I saw at Goddard. Their absolutely awe inspiring vacuum chamber towering multiple stories over makes you believe in them. I'd guess it was over 30m in diameter and at least 100m in height, but I couldn't see the top properly. Just everything was wow. Acoustic testing room, etc.
>>7689831
>which could possibly show us a truly earth like planet
And what possible difference would that make? The nearest possible such world (not that planets themselves are economically viable targets) would be over 4 lightyears away, in the Centauri system. Even if we expended trillions of dollars of wealth to construct a ship that managed to somehow transit that distance at an average 10% LS, it's still a 43-yr, one-way trip, using communication lags of 4.3 years.
Other than academic interest, finding out about nearby stellar systems is just a waste of money.
>hubble but better, hubble but better, hubble but better.
Epoch of reionisation !!
>>7690103
>70 consecutive successes
>last failure was 14 years ago
>Ariane decides to blow up JUST for this one
i can't even
>>7690775
Who's going to insure a rocket that will probably blow up
>>7690949
I honestly refuse to believe this will happen. Imagine the pressure on the flight team though. How do these people get any sleep before a launch like this is beyond me.
>>7689847
Funny, I was just dwelling on this.
I think I might break down if I watched that happen live.
>>7690975
SLS
Guaranteed not to explode, because it is too expensive to launch in the first place.
>>7690975
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellite_insurance
It's a real thing, I just don't know if anyone's willing to do it for a project this big.
>>7690536
>And what possible difference would that make?
>other than academic interest.
You just answered your own question.
