News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Greg Robinson fixed NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, reluctantly. Parent comment

Re:Greg Robinson fixed NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, re... by mmazing on Friday July 15, 2022 @04:15PM (#32112268)
What is the measure of success though?

Successful launch and arrival at the observation point? The 6 month setup period before observations can be made?

I contend that success here is a full mission that yields science data over decades of observation. If we cut down the acceptable error rate so we can launch early, how does that impact longevity?

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Greg Robinson fixed NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, re... by zmgsabst on Friday July 15, 2022 @04:23PM (#32112356)
I think the question is, imagine we built 10 — and got an outcome like:

2x — failed to deploy, mission lost

4x — early operation error, 6mo lifetime

3x — lower performance, 3 year lifetime

1x — mission successful, 10 year lifetime

…do we get a better deal building them with larger faults, at a lower cost?

A lot of expense is in developing technologies, assembly tooling, and test rigs — all of which is easier if we don’t need them to be as assured because only 1 in 10 needs to succeed.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Greg Robinson fixed NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, re... by WalterBright on Friday July 15, 2022 @04:28PM (#32112416)
Right. And if they are launched serially, you've got a chance to correct mistakes in the previous launches. Odds of success increase with every launch.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Greg Robinson fixed NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, re... by mmazing on Friday July 15, 2022 @06:52PM (#32113601)
Yeah, makes more sense when I think about it like that. Thanks!
[ Parent | on HN ]