The science performance report of JWST is a fascinating read. Some of the highlights that sent me down a rabbit-hole
- On Predicted lifetime of consumables - Before launch, JWST was required to carry propellant for at least 10.5 years of mission lifetime. Now that JWST is in orbit around L2, it is clear that the remaining propellant will last for more than 20 years of mission lifetime.
- On Orbit - Orbit around L2 is maintained through regular station-keeping burns, which are scheduled every three weeks
- On observatory lifetime - At present, the largest source of uncertainty is long term effects of micrometeoroid impacts that slowly degrade the primary mirror.
- On Other spacecraft performance - JWST is now generating 1.5 kW to match the power load, with a capability of > 2 kW
- On Fault management - Of the 344 single point failures at launch, almost all of them related to deployments, only 49 remain; these are common to most science missions (for example, only one set of propellant tanks, only one high gain antenna)
The section on "Pointing and guiding" which mentions how complex sub-systems interact to achieve "line-of-sight stabilization" and how its not possible to test those systems together in an end-to-end fashion on the ground is interesting.