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A comment on James Webb telescope reaches its final destination in space, million miles away. Parent comment

Re:James Webb telescope reaches its final destination in spa... by ridgeguy on Tuesday January 25, 2022 @06:01PM (#30079362)
Here's a good paper on the mirror actuators [1]. Skimming, they look like hexapod rotary stepper architecture that would not need power to hold a position, only to change position.

[1] https://www.esmats.eu/amspapers/pastpapers/pdfs/2006/warden....

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Re:James Webb telescope reaches its final destination in spa... by jacquesm on Wednesday January 26, 2022 @02:55AM (#30082947)
Steppers make good sense for that application, what a beautiful design. 7 nm step size with a repeat accuracy of 1 nm is insane precision.
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Re:James Webb telescope reaches its final destination in spa... by ridgeguy on Saturday January 29, 2022 @10:24PM (#30133603)
It is a beautiful design, isn't it?

I'll speculate that the engineers who designed this and other ground-breaking aspects of JWST feel the same euphoria that Beethoven might have felt on completing his 9th symphony.

I think beauty wears many masks, but she's in every human effort to bring something new into the world.

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