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downshift
@downshift.eth
i watched a documentary about the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) today this thing is a complete marvel of engineering, but the wildest thing about it is that the launch and deployment consisted of at least 344 distinct single points of failure, any of which could have caused the entire mission to fail as this elaborate apparatus precisely unfurled and calibrated itself in space they went 344 for 344…absolutely mind-boggling (and even the engineers themselves acknowledge there was a lot of luck at play here)
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Midnight Marauder Ⓜ️
@midnightmarauder.eth
Watched that as well, hopefully it holds up. Not easy to get to like the Hubble
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downshift
@downshift.eth
they actually used less fuel than calculated to get into their desired orbit, which extended the potential serviceable life of the thing by years, if i’m not mistaken i’m with you and even more excited for instruments coming online in the next decade or so that are uniquely designed for studying exoplanets (JWST itself being optimized for studying early galaxies in infrared) i wager we will know fairly conclusively whether we’re alone in the Milky Way in the next 20 years…statistically, odds should be good that we aren’t given that our galaxy is super old
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Midnight Marauder Ⓜ️
@midnightmarauder.eth
The difference in “images” produced already compared to the Hubble are already breathtaking. I’m old enough to remember when we confirmed the first exoplanets. Now we are doing analysis on what type of atmosphere they have if any. Mind blowing
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