Is the James Webb Space Telescope "Too Big to Fail?"

[Cripplecreek]

Backers of NASA’s next great observatory contemplate its worst-case scenarios

Any way you slice it, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is one of the boldest, highest-stakes gambles in the space agency’s storied history. Just building and testing the observatory has proved to be a dauntingly complex technological enterprise, pushing the observatory’s astronomical price tag to nearly $9 billion and requiring participation from the European and Canadian space agencies. JWST is both a barrier-breaking and budget-busting undertaking.

Conceived in the late 1980s as a way to peer back over 13.5 billion years of cosmic history to see the faint infrared light from the universe’s very first stars and galaxies, JWST today is being tasked with an ever-growing menu of other scientific duties. Scientists now see its stargazing power, which by some metrics is 100 times greater than that of the famed Hubble Space Telescope, as a promissory note: The future of practically every branch of astronomy will be unquestionably brightened by JWST’s successful launch and operation. But due to its steadily escalating cost and continually delayed send-off (which recently slipped from 2018 to 2019), this telescopic time machine is now under increasingly intense congressional scrutiny.

To help satisfy any doubts about JWST’s status, the project is headed for an independent review as soon as January 2018, advised NASA’s science chief Thomas Zurbuchen during an early December congressional hearing. Pressed by legislators about whether JWST will actually launch as presently planned in spring of 2019, he said, “at this moment in time, with the information that I have, I believe it’s achievable.”


https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-the-james-webb-space-telescope-too-big-to-fail/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social#?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=2016twitterdlvrit

Long article but a worthy read.

[Suppressed]

This will be a huge victory, if it succeeds.

And a huge catastrophe, if it fails.

[Cripplecreek]

This will be a huge victory, if it succeeds.

And a huge catastrophe, if it fails.

100 times greater resolution than Hubbel but a failure would be catastrophic for future funding.

[Cyber Liberty]

100 times greater resolution than Hubbel but a failure would be catastrophic for future funding.

Then let's hope the engineers know the difference between Inches and Centimeters, and test the thing before shooting it into space?

[kevindavis007]

Then let's hope the engineers know the difference between Inches and Centimeters, and test the thing before shooting it into space?

There is a reason why they are testing the s**t on this telescope.

[Cyber Liberty]

There is a reason why they are testing the s**t on this telescope.

One would think they would have figured out the import of that testing thing after Challenger, but no.  They had to bleep up a multi-Brazillion dollar telescope.   

[Cripplecreek]

There is a reason why they are testing the s**t on this telescope.

Damage during launch is always a risk. Launch is a pretty violent event.

[Cyber Liberty]

Damage during launch is always a risk. Launch is a pretty violent event.

SpaceX is saying the lost a spy satellite that went up over the weekend.

[thackney]

SpaceX is saying the lost a spy satellite that went up over the weekend.

I thought SpaceX didn't really give info on the mission.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/space/rockets/a14848403/rumors-swirl-that-the-secret-zuma-spacecraft-launched-by-spacex-was-lost/

A SpaceX spokesperson told Popular Mechanics: “We do not comment on missions of this nature; but as of right now reviews of the data indicate Falcon 9 performed nominally.”

A communications spokesperson for Northrop Grumman simply provided this statement: "This is a classified mission. We cannot comment on classified missions."

[Cyber Liberty]

I thought SpaceX didn't really give info on the mission.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/space/rockets/a14848403/rumors-swirl-that-the-secret-zuma-spacecraft-launched-by-spacex-was-lost/

Apparently SpaceX are about the only people not commenting:

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/08/highly-classified-us-spy-satellite-appears-to-be-a-total-loss-after-spacex-launch.html

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-satellite/u-s-spy-satellite-believed-destroyed-after-failing-to-reach-orbit-officials-idUSKBN1EY087

[thackney]

Apparently SpaceX are about the only people not commenting:

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/08/highly-classified-us-spy-satellite-appears-to-be-a-total-loss-after-spacex-launch.html

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-satellite/u-s-spy-satellite-believed-destroyed-after-failing-to-reach-orbit-officials-idUSKBN1EY087

I cannot help but wonder, for a "spy" satellite, the government would want the public to believe it failed when it did not.

[Cyber Liberty]

I cannot help but wonder, for a "spy" satellite, the government would want the public to believe it failed when it did not.

I agree with that.  If I were the government, and the rocket company told everybody they were orbiting a bird for me, I'd say it crashed too.  Ooops.   

[Cripplecreek]

I cannot help but wonder, for a "spy" satellite, the government would want the public to believe it failed when it did not.

That's a solid point.

[thackney]

Apparently SpaceX are about the only people not commenting:

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/08/highly-classified-us-spy-satellite-appears-to-be-a-total-loss-after-spacex-launch.html

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-satellite/u-s-spy-satellite-believed-destroyed-after-failing-to-reach-orbit-officials-idUSKBN1EY087

SpaceX says rocket performance OK in secret satellite launch
http://www.foxnews.com/science/2018/01/09/spacex-says-rocket-performance-ok-in-secret-satellite-launch.html
1/9/2017

SpaceX defended its rocket performance during the weekend launch of a secret U.S. satellite, responding Tuesday to media reports that the satellite codenamed Zuma was lost.

Company President Gwynne Shotwell said the Falcon 9 rocket "did everything correctly" Sunday night and suggestions otherwise are "categorically false."