Two weeks in, the Webb Space Telescope is reshaping astronomy

Re:Two weeks in, the Webb Space Telescope is reshaping astro... by delecti on Monday July 25, 2022 @01:57PM (#32228335)

I don't think you understood what I meant. If you launch the segments by themselves, the width of a single segment would still be limited to the internal diameter of the launch vessel, we're not going to just bolt a naked mirror to the front of a rocket.

If you compare how the JWST was folded, the width of the individual segments was already close to the maximum allowable diameter of the launch vessel. Leaving the rest of that launch vessel empty won't get you a much bigger final mirror.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Two weeks in, the Webb Space Telescope is reshaping astro... by kortex on Monday July 25, 2022 @10:25PM (#32233545)

JWST folded is about 3 tiles wide, in a housing 4.7m in diameter, unfolding to 6.5m. So a JWST style fold in a Starship would be double. A one-mirror-segment-per-flight would be something like 36m, in the same arrangement. But since you would be constructing from separate sections, the diameter is theoretically limitless.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Two weeks in, the Webb Space Telescope is reshaping astro... by cnlevy on Tuesday July 26, 2022 @10:09AM (#32238479)

Just stack the mirrors inside Starship, and assemble them in space. Below, an example of a 300m diameter telescope using 8-meter mirror segments assembled in-orbit

https://caseyhandmer.wordpress.com/2021/11/17/science-upside...

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Two weeks in, the Webb Space Telescope is reshaping astro... by ncmncm on Monday July 25, 2022 @03:01PM (#32229321)

I understood perfectly.

Starship is 9 meters wide.

[ Parent | on HN ]