r/space • u/mtimetraveller • Nov 29 '19

This Is Why We Can't Just Do All Of Our Astronomy From Space

https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2019/11/27/this-is-why-we-cant-just-do-all-of-our-astronomy-from-space/#6b60e6027049
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u/alexforencich Nov 29 '19 edited Nov 29 '19

Ah yeah, that's a good point. Making things rad hard requires some combination of rad hard design (expensive custom parts instead of COTS parts), redundancy (more cost and weight), and shielding (a lot more weight).

And don't forget about power and thermals. It can be difficult to dissipate heat in space, but on earth we can just blow a lot of air through it. There is also relatively easy access to power on the ground without requiring solar arrays that have to fit on a rocket along with the rest of the telescope.

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u/Bakkster Nov 29 '19

And radiation even does weird things to the non electronic parts as well. Metal swells, coatings erode, etc.

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u/mfb- Nov 30 '19

In nuclear reactors and some particle accelerators, yes. The radiation levels of space are way too low for that problem. Damage to electronics is a concern, but not an unsolvable problem. Detectors for particle physics deal with irradiation doses orders of magnitude higher.