‘Voyager on steroids.’ Mission would probe region beyond our Solar System

Re:‘Voyager on steroids.’ Mission would probe region beyond ... by simonh on Friday July 29, 2022 @03:11PM (#32280679)

The problem with that is the launch costs are a small fraction of the total cost of these big missions. A launch on an Ariane 5 costs $177m, that’s a small slice of the total $10bn cost of the JWST. Starship will really shine for cheap heavy payloads.

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Re:‘Voyager on steroids.’ Mission would probe region beyond ... by joshuahedlund on Friday July 29, 2022 @05:01PM (#32281727)

A huge portion of the JWST cost was specially designing it to fold and unfold in a certain way due to the size of the rocket and the size of the spacecraft. First, smaller probes wouldn't have that restraint, and second, SpaceX's upcoming bigger launch vehicle won't have that restraint for JWST-sized craft.

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Re:‘Voyager on steroids.’ Mission would probe region beyond ... by simonh on Friday July 29, 2022 @10:19PM (#32283731)

Or we can build even bigger instruments, that fold out even larger, and do dramatically more science.

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