Comments by "Dr Gamma D" (@DrDeuteron) on "How Does The James Webb Space Telescope Work? - Smarter Every Day 262" video.

That's because he is Project Scientist . I guarantee the Chief Engineer is worried.
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@BrightForest well, scientists just make demands. It's the engineers that meet them. Until Phase E, and we're not in Phase E.
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@BrightForest none of those names were engineers, they were all scientists. Big difference at NASA.
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@runnergo1398 Arianne 5 has 110 launches, 5 fails, so there's a (4.5+/-2.0)% chance this never gets past LEO. Dude should be worried. The expectation value is a $450,000,000 dollar loss on day one.
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@stevelenores5637 that is not how launch windows work.
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@ffggddss Then he should worry, because all missions have problems that can end it all, and that you have not 100% mitigated.
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@ffggddss What's your definition of fixable? For me it means: "it can be fixed", not "it can be fixed within timeline/budget constraints". There are problems that could be fixed that were not on this mission; rather, the risk is reduced to an acceptable level, nevertheless, they can cause LOM.
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It's easy to not worry when there's a Nobel prize on your shelf back home. The rest of us? Yeah: launch is nerve-racking, because everything can blowup in 3 seconds, and then you don't publish, and you don't get tenure, and now you're an ap developer working for a CEO 1/3 your age.
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@oldfrend or for driving around Mars.
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@oldfrend so I looked into that, and NASA says it, but it is BS for enviro-PR purposes. MSL-rovers are too big for solar, also latitude, attitude, and terrain matter. I'm a made member of the Mars Mafia, made my bones on MER....never heard that before in 25 years.
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thanks, now we have something to worry about. You forgot sudden exposure to vacuum, rapid temperature swings, electromagnetic interference, corona discharge and all that other stuff.
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