Linked Questions
24 questions linked to/from What happens to JWST after it runs out of propellant?
9
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If James Webb goes "over the hill" is it gone for good?
James Webb is in a Halo orbit around Earth's L2 point. It is in a gravitational saddle: two directions are stable ("up-down" and "front-back"). The "in-out" direction is ...
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How frequent are (or will be) JWST station keeping burns at L2?
Does anyone have solid information regarding the scheduled/anticipated station keeping burns for JWST at L2? In an online video I've heard mention of 'every 21 days' which at first look seems ...
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James Webb Space Telescope Velocity Loss Formula or how fast will JWST be going on L+26
I was never great at math but now I wish I would have taken it more seriously.
We have an office bet going and I need to come up with a formula to figure out the future velocity the JWST. I was able ...
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How is the moon's orbital motion accounted for in determining the best observation platform/location for JWST at L2?
The moon's periodic motion would appear to impose a perturbation to the otherwise equilibrium state of the solar/earth L2 point.
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How can I find the old reference orbit for JWST (from 2014) and get AltAz positions from Earth without learning Spice? Can Horizons do it? Can Python?
In this ancient 2017 answer to What happens to JWST after it runs out of propellant? I've plotted an eleven year long reference orbit for JWST that was available form Horizons at the time.
Now that ...
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To what extent could JWST continue to be useful after the propellant runs out?
I see a similar question answered, but this is perhaps more specific. There's a lot of description about the James Web Space Telescope (JWST) operation during its planned mission. But I gather JWST ...
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The design of the halo orbit of the James Webb Space Telescope
As I feel a little less uncomfortable with "halo" orbits, with this question, I would like to explore the practical aspects, in particular those related to the design of the James Webb Space ...
18
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James Webb telescope; limits to propellant lifetime?
There is a comprehensive article on Wikipedia on the James Webb telescope. It includes a statement regarding the operational lifetime being nominally five years and optimistically ten years. However ...
7
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Suppose Hubble needed to be fixed by replacing an accessible module again and NASA called for help, what are the most likely mission proposals?
Background
Hubble has had at least a few troubling issues that were resolved from the ground in recent years, a summary can be found in Engadget's NASA struggles to fix a Hubble Space Telescope ...
4
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1
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Station-keeping delta-v per year for an Earth-Moon vanilla halo orbit?
This answer reminds us that an Earth-Moon L1 or L2 vanilla1 halo orbit remaining always visible to some patch on the Moon's surface requires station-keeping.
Queqiao uses such an orbit having ...
5
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Will WFIRST and JWST be able to resolve each other?
The James Webb Space Telescope is scheduled to launch in 2021 and be put in a halo orbit around Sun-Earth L2 soon after. The plan for the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope is a launch perhaps ...
8
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Have light gases like hydrogen or helium been explored for ion propulsion?
This answer and discussion in comments below this answer mention that for an ion of mass $m$ and charge $q$ accelerated by a voltage $V$ the momentum it receives (impulse) is
$$p = \sqrt{2mqV} = \...
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What is the required burn to keep a satellite at a Lagrangian point?
When a satellite reaches a Lagrangian point, it has a non-zero velocity $v_1$ because of the transfer orbit in which it had already been. What burn, say, $\Delta v$, one needs if the satellite is ...
17
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Could JWST stay at L2 "forever"?
Using only reaction wheels powered by solar panel and the sunshield as a sail (in continuous active attitude control) to generate thrust from solar photon pressure in the desired direction, could JWST ...
4
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How will JWST maintain its elliptical orbit around L2?
I understand that JWST will have a vertical elliptical orbit around L2, but what I don't understand is how the telescope will actually maintain an orbit if there is no body in L2 to actually orbit ...