Correct_Inspection25 t1_j3899zu wrote on January 6, 2023 at 6:47 PM

Reply to comment by Perfect-Scientist-29 in NASA And SpaceX Consider Daring Plan To ‘Reboost’ The Hubble Space Telescope by aureliamachiavelli

Nitpick here: Didn’t you say the last Hubble refit and boost mission cost a total of $900 million? We are talking large numbers but rounding up another $100 million is a bit unfair as a ballpark estimate for JWST, and argues against your point that refit is a value compared to another brand new telescope with proven current/2023 launch vehicles. Want to also point out that L2 orbital space is finite and without an easy way to gradually deorbit Sats there, is a highly valuable resource. This goes beyond a purely financial argument for refit.

Perfect-Scientist-29 t1_j38e7dj wrote on January 6, 2023 at 7:17 PM

Fair point, will fix. $900M was just what i could find via google, and looks like it was already rounding up all externalities anyway so will edit. Forgot that to the other posters point around how many cheaper systems will start certifying for human rated/heavy lift deep space payloads, this year will see 3-4 L2 capable heavy launch systems debut with Starship, Vulcan, New Glenn and Ariane 6 (Starship and New Glenn have more risk of being bumped to Q1 2024), so that also makes the case for repair/refit even stronger. Will look into how NASA/ESA manage the L2 decommissioning, you have a point that de-orbiting around an L2 frame much further away from a gravity well is more complicated especially if a satellite runs out of fuel to keep the L2 frame orbit stable. Shouldn't there be a parking orbit established like some now used for very extreme orbit (GEO/Helio)? Likely L2 would want to have 1 type of each highly sensitive observatories (Deep infrared (JWST), Hubble replacement for visible light/UV, High energy, and or LIGO/Radar) for data link throughput and cost reasons given the goals for the new Decadal Science survey that initially proposed JWST, and leave the rest of the workload to the much cheaper ground based telescopes using laser correction. https://www.nationalacademies.org/our-work/planetary-science-and-astrobiology-decadal-survey-2023-2032