From a pilot's base of knowledge, widening the payload means more drag, and more drag requires a lot more thrust to maintain speed to attain escape velocity, so this was a compromise in my opinion.

I get that, but I'm wondering - would it really be that bad? Drag matters less and less with every foot above the ground. And less complex payload would be lighter.

From a pilot's base of knowledge, widening the payload means more drag, and more drag requires a lot more thrust to maintain speed to attain escape velocity, so this was a compromise in my opinion.

To the question about making fairing larger: Remember that this telescope has been in development for decades. The design team had to make critical decisions about the device long before Musk and others had tested their current rockets.

When you read the blog posts about the design, development, and testing process, you realize how immensely complex these projects are. You have to make conservative decisions and stick with them even as technology leaps ahead.

I am sure the sensors, computers, and other critical components on Webb are, by most measures, laughably obsolete compared to what current tech allows. But these systems aren’t iPhones, easily upgraded every few years.

You’re dead on. Make the payload fit the vehicle, including the fairing. Any changes are major changes.

JWST was designed in 1996 with a projected launch date of 2007.

To put that into perspective, in 1996 Elon Musk was getting turned down for a job at Netscape. SpaceX began in 2002 and didn't reach orbit until September of 2008, a year after JWST was scheduled to launch. At the time, the available launch vehicle was likely the Delta IV, which has a 5 meter payload fairing. While the Shuttle was still flying at the time, its payload bay was only 4.6 meters wide.

There was nothing bigger available.

The day of two to three decade timetables to bring new technology platforms online for the USA are OVER! The USA better stop the Chinese espionage of our technology immediately and we best get serious about quickly facing the Chinese threat. Start by incentivizing moving manufacturing to South of the USA border and away from China. Not easy, takes time? Start it now. Labor costs are cheaper south of the border now anyways.

The James Web telescope was launched by an Ariane 5 rocket, first flown in 1996. I understand that the bidding was close , but the Ariane contract included free lifetime French fries.

I had a flight a long time ago carrying a Hughes satellite from LAX to French Guiana for launch. A whole bunch of Hughes technicians went with us, and very interesting folks to talk to.

Knowing nothing about satellite launching, I asked why we were taking it all the way down there, and as a lot of others know, it's easier to get into orbit from near the equator.

I lost track of JWT. It was in the works when I got out of college if memory serves. I supported some of the instruments way back when, early 2000s, then heard nothing of it for more than a decade. If it ever crossed my mind at all I guess I assumed the program had been cancelled.

I kind of wonder what they do about parts obsolescence for a [civilian] program that's covering 25+ years. You blow a component in some electronics module during transportation, test, etc. in that thing and you better hope you have a bunch still sitting in nitrogen bag somewhere or you're SOL. Think back to your electronics in 1995-2000. Very different world. In the systems I support these days we have operational lives that cover decades so figuring out what to do about electronics is a big deal and the customer has very deep pockets.

It's rapidly getting to the point where the Chinese don't need to steal anything else. It's been remarkable watching their technology mature and their approach to developing new technologies mature as well. We're in big trouble and we're our own worst enemy. If we don't do more to bring microchip fabrication on shore we're done for. The token amount we have now isn't going to cut it. This is not a country whose hearts and minds we're going to win with open door policies. They're going to gut us, surpass us, and then crush us.

I remember reading about some highly competitive satellite dealings back in the 80s and 90s in Asia/SE Asia and people getting their hands slapped hard for it. Michael Leonard talks about this in his book "An American Combat Bird Dog Pilot: From the Battlefield of Vietnam and Beyond."

As for China, people who are this naive live in a fantasy land insulated by total ignorance of the real world. I've been dealing with Chinese espionage since graduate school. Used to watch them bang away at the computers day and night trying to find a way in. I will say that most organizations have gotten a lot better about security, but that's largely because they've been required to do so. Non compliant security. No funding. But if we don't continue to push advancement in our own country the Chinese won't bother because we won't have anything worth stealing.

China is definitely advancing. They are at or near leading in super computers, quantum computers, high peak power lasers.

We should take very seriously their talk of getting someone back to the moon before the US does.

If were are not careful, in a few decades, China will once again be the center of the world, as it was for so much of world history. They are coming out of what was basically yet another inter-dynastic period.