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Comment by cletus

So JWST has (IIRC) a 6.5 meter mirror once deployed and yes, it was a challenge to develop that tech. Plus it added risk of failure. The Starship Super-heavy seems to have a max payload dimension of 9 meters. I imagine some buffer is required (ie it won't just allow a static 9 meter mirror) but I could be wrong.

So that's larger but not that much larger. Remember the JWST was a huge step up from Hubble's 2.4 meter mirror.

I expect NASA/ESA will take the opportunity to deploy even larger mirror by using the folding tech they've developed.

But here's the main point: these kinds of flagship missions don't support and sustain a commercial launch system. There are only so many JWST 2.0s that you can and will build, launch and deploy. Your bread and butter is going to be commercial communications satellites and other than deploying large constellations like Starlink, I'm not sure what the market is here.

parent cletus 2 years ago

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