back to article NASA makes the James Webb Telescope a looker with a heart of gold

While the spaceship name Heart of Gold was taken by the late, great Douglas Adams, NASA has come up with something similar for its forthcoming space telescope. To capture incoming radiation, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope will need to fend off outgoing radiation. The telescope, scheduled to launch in 2020 following several …

  1. Tomato42

    > It's also a reminder of the project's cost, estimated to be about $8.8 billion by the US Government Accountability Office

    I'm quite sure the amount of gold on it is so small that any astronomer that will be able to use it would pocket the cost of it himself or herself if it guaranteed 10% of time on the Webb.

    1. JeffyPoooh
      Pint

      "the Webb"

      NASA and their international partners were originally contemplating two options for the Webb, a narrower version and the wider version which was ultimately selected.

      So now we await the launch of the World's Wide Webb.

    2. Flocke Kroes Silver badge

      At today's prices ...

      All the gold on the big mirrors would cost about $2400.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: At today's prices ...

        Yep that's one of the nice things about gold - it is possible to make very thin layers of it so what sounds like a lot is a drop in the bucket.

        But I am willing to bet some congressman running this fall will bring up the $8.8 billion cost of this as an example of government waste he would try to stop, and show pictures of the gold plated parts as if to demonstrate why it costs so much.

    3. druck Silver badge

      Having seen how much gold foil is used to thermally protect the back of an F1 car, I'm sure no expense is being spared on the telescope.

    4. MyffyW Silver badge

      Heart of Gold

      I really should read headlines more carefully. I had hoped that NASA were about to trial an infinite improbability drive as used on the Heart of Gold.

      1. JeffyPoooh
        Pint

        Re: Heart of Gold

        MyffyW mentioned, "...an infinite improbability drive..."

        They exist, now.

        They're called "EmDrives" (a.k.a. "radio frequency resonant cavity thrusters"), a supposed vacuum drive technology which is infinitely improbable.

      2. Spudley

        Re: Heart of Gold

        I really should read headlines more carefully. I had hoped that NASA were about to trial an infinite improbability drive as used on the Heart of Gold.

        I'm beginning to wonder re the Trump presidency, Brexit, and various other recent world events, whether they have been caused by someone, somewhere firing up an unshielded infinite improbability drive.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Devil

    Ssshhhhh!

    Or Trump will want the mirrors in the Oval Office to look at himself and ask - "mirror, mirror, made of gold, who's the greatest president of the world?"

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Ssshhhhh! Or Trump will want the mirrors...

      Sounds good.

      "President Trump, to get the best possible view using the space telescope's mirrors, you should stand at least 14000 light years away... please follow me to the presidential rocket. No, as it's a space telescope, you need to be in space for it to work. This way, please..." :-)

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Ssshhhhh!

      Consider that Trump's old digs at Trump Tower are reputed to be nearly all gold or gold-plated, including (presumably) solid gold loo flush handles. One has no doubt there are gold mirrors, in several sizes. As has been stated, such golden extravagance is relatively cheap if confined to (admittedly tawdry) gold plating.

      Of course all that cheap gold could just be just Trump "posing" for effect, with the family living in more subdued apartments nearby while allowing the press to ogle the opulent "living quarters of the super-rich" out front.

      Trump isn't that complicated, really.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Ssshhhhh!

        Somehow I doubt that Trump has the mental bandwidth to sustain distinct public and private personas. He lives in the tacky golden palace: whether his wife does is a different question.

  3. Crisp

    Slitless Spectrograph

    Does that sound like a good name for a band or what?

    1. NanoMeter

      Re: Slitless Spectrograph

      Yeah, an old 70s prog rock band.

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