Re:James Webb telescope's coldest instrument reaches operati...
by ncmncm on Monday April 18, 2022 @03:46PM
(#31075504)
Truly, the only thing difficult is getting here in a hurry.
Anybody not in a hurry would have little more difficulty than we did launching Voyager or New Horizons. They would, of course, need to build it such that it would operate for long enough to get here, which would be harder.
Or, anyway, start operating again once it got near here. It ought not to be very difficult to preserve equipment cooled to 2.7 degrees above absolute zero, which is, notably, below the temperature where helium condenses. Maybe the boiling helium could be used to wake it up.
Anybody not in a hurry would have little more difficulty than we did launching Voyager or New Horizons. They would, of course, need to build it such that it would operate for long enough to get here, which would be harder.
Or, anyway, start operating again once it got near here. It ought not to be very difficult to preserve equipment cooled to 2.7 degrees above absolute zero, which is, notably, below the temperature where helium condenses. Maybe the boiling helium could be used to wake it up.