whatilearned
Read more: https://webbtelescope.org/quick-facts/telescope-quick-facts
TIL the gold on the mirrors of the 10 billion dollar James Webb Space telescope weighs a little over 48 grams, or 1.7 ounces. That’s less than $3000 at the current price.
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Upon reflection, I think thats very efficient use of resources
Looking at the size of the telescope, that has to be quite a thin layer of gold…
So that’s where my tuition for my natural sciences class went!
(University of Arizona student here and *apparently* we had a little role in developing this gadget)
They almost certainly used 5N gold or better. If it was 5N purity you’d want to triple that price. (Still not a lot – the process of coating would have been far more expensive than the gold that actually ended up on the mirror).