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[mvgulik]

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[shubla]

Bunch of mirrors on top of Star Wars style spaceship ripoff? Not impressed!

[MagicManICT]

Willing to bet there's going to be some sort of engineering issue within the first few months of operation similar to Hubble. Been looking forward to this for 20 years myself. Still doesn't help solve the issue of "how to get to any place outside of orbit in less than a few months within our own system" or "how to get to anywhere interstellar in less than decades." But maybe we'll actually find someplace to go rather than a random crapshoot if that problem can be resolved.

[mvgulik]

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[mvgulik]

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[mvgulik]

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[Jalpha]

This will be the most stressful series of events in my life so far. I already have stomach ulcers and the JWST is not yet even mounted in its launching rocket.

I don't know if praying is an adequate term for regularly dropping onto my knees and smashing my head into the ground literally begging God for a successful launch and deployment.

[shubla]

Its just some mirrors, why is it a big deal? Will we get cool pictures of other planets?
Aren't there even bigger mirror telescopes already? Though maybe atmosphere disturbs them a bit.

[jordancoles]

It's amazing to me how years of planning, money and effort goes into getting things like this into space and how a piece of space debris could just immediately bash into it and take the whole thing out

[Jalpha]

Shubla are you stupid (obvious response is yes).

This contraption will push back our perception of time itself and allow us to perceive the very beginning of the universe. Almost.

Never mind that it could have been built on the moon for one quarter of the cost sixty years ago. In a much more durable and reliable format. No never mind that.

The taxpayers funded NASA and its ongoing squandering of taxpayer financing and that's what truly matters.

Murica!