Maybe, just maybe, if we stopped building telescopes like fragile porcelain dolls with glass heads that can't take a scratch and started building them like tanks that can take a beating..
It’s a pet peeve of mine but whenever I read “Maybe, just maybe” I instantly dislike whatever comes next. It’s an indicator that the post is sardonic and dramatically over simplified.
The real reason why the JWST is so delicate is because it’s a large satellite that had to be crammed into a tiny fairing. That means it has to be folded up like the worlds most intricate origami. All those moving parts, coupled with incredibly thin and weight saving components means that deploying it successfully is tremendously fraught with complexity. If we had a wider diameter rocket, JWST wouldn’t be nearly as complicated. But that simply wasn’t the case in 1997 when it was first designed.
Have you considered what you are proposing?
They would have to send a spyglass if they made it rugged piece of technology not most advanced space telescope in history of humanity.
Any kind of extra shielding, extra rigidity takes away from the weight budget of the project.