But the point is that Webb was vastly over-engineered because we needed to get value out of every ounce of mass at the very high costs of legacy launch providers, and even more compromised because of Ariane 5’s tiny fairing.
You could build Webb for vastly, vastly less money if it launched on Starship, not just per unit of mass; volume is at much less of a premium in the new regime.
You can’t quite fit ELT pre-constructed into a single Starship, it’s true. But it’s built out of segmented mirrors. It doesn’t have to arrive on station in one piece.
You could build Webb for vastly, vastly less money if it launched on Starship, not just per unit of mass; volume is at much less of a premium in the new regime.
You can’t quite fit ELT pre-constructed into a single Starship, it’s true. But it’s built out of segmented mirrors. It doesn’t have to arrive on station in one piece.