Way back, in the 2000's, , , , , I worked for a defense contractor as a Sr, Subcontract Administrator. One of my main suppliers was a contractor in Alabama that was, pretty much, "Number One" anywhere. They manufactured the "sensor support housing" for an Army weapons sighting system that we worked on. The beryllium was "pure" in regard to DoD standards and such. Just the near-net-shape "blank" (you can call it a casting, but is not made like a "normal" metal casting). Anyway, just the price of the "blank" from the only qualified refiner was $42K each with a minimum order of 4 pieces. The machining and testing was $27K each with a quality level of NO DEFECTS and No reworks. The slightest "miss-cut" resulted in Scrap.

So, , , , , anyway, , , , a couple of times I went to their location for Program Reviews and such I got to see the Webb's mirrors being machined. As with the Army part I was responsible for, the Webb mirrors were following the same DoD material specs and such, with a very heavy layer of NASA spread all over it, and had volumes of paper for "quality", "safety", and such.

The "base price" for the mirror "castings" was $76K each. I did not know for sure about the "machining" part of the costs but, it could have easily been another $100K each.

Oh and, the mirrors that I saw in-work were not "Deliverables".

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Dora Hates You

Edited: 07/14/2022 at 05:20 AM by dingpatch