Axing the James Webb Space Telescope....

[Giorgio]

BTW as a footnote, I got to fly a Lockheed Martin F-35 full cockpit F-35 sim today. All it did was re-enforce my sadness about our aquisitions system. Great airplane though, I would never want to go against one or a package of them without lots of friends and a good life insurance policy.

What didn't you like about it?

[ladajo]

Hard to answer in a public forum. In simple terms, it is so good, that it is a full step (or more) beyond what we are using now.

In any event I bombed a ship as well as shot down two aircraft. Also got to fly aorundn silly for a bit. It was fun. They have done a good job with sensor fusion as well as balancing that against information display and management for the pilot. I really loved the 360 look around thing. Very cool and wonderwoman like.

[krenshala]

The problem with JWST is that it is designed to orbit around L2, which means it cannot be serviced. It was designed to be extremely capable and complex, and never require servicing--a thoroughly BAD idea.

...

JWST is backward thinking, based upon a helluva lot of hubris. I'm all for that kind of scope, but I think we need to get our transportation in line to service and upgrade it first.

We can't service it at the L2 point currently. I agree that we need the ability to do so sooner rather than later, however. This is why I'm hoping to see Bigelow and others do well sooner rather than later (I'm convinced he will do well in space, just not sure how soon).

[GIThruster]

Actually, JWST is not modular like Hubble. Even if we were to develop the ability to service it, it is not designed to be serviced. It lacks the attachment points and kinds of systems that can be swapped out because it assumes by design, that it cannot be serviced.

At least, that's what I got from NASA TV. . .