I think you could make a case for whatever replaces James Webb going to L4 and L5 instead of L2.
They put JW at the L2 point. I don't think L1 would make a good astronomical location (we put Sun monitoring satellites there, which is probably a good idea), and L3 wouldn't be able to transmit to earth because there's a big ball of fusion in the way.
L4 and L5 have the advantage of being stable. No reaction mass needed for orbital correction. I'm not sure how much reaction mass you need for the orbital corrections versus going to L2. Anyone know?
The only fun fact I remember about Lagrange Points is when I first heard of them with JWST I figured someone really smart must have used a supercomputer in recent history to calculate such a thing.
Nope. Someone in freaking -1750- figured them out (okay 1770 it was furthered)
No electricity, telescopes primitive at only 100 years old, barely grasping the idea of a solar system and they are doing that level math by hand.
They put JW at the L2 point. I don't think L1 would make a good astronomical location (we put Sun monitoring satellites there, which is probably a good idea), and L3 wouldn't be able to transmit to earth because there's a big ball of fusion in the way.
L4 and L5 have the advantage of being stable. No reaction mass needed for orbital correction. I'm not sure how much reaction mass you need for the orbital corrections versus going to L2. Anyone know?