How does the effective operational lifetime generally compare between ground telescopes through refurbishment and space telescopes?
Answer
Ground telescopes can maintain peak scientific relevance for 40–50 years through refurbishment, whereas space telescopes might have a 15–20 year hardware life before critical failure.
A ground telescope can maintain peak scientific relevance for 40 to 50 years through periodic refurbishment of its electronics and detectors, while a space telescope often has an expected hardware life of 15 to 20 years before a critical failure might permanently shut it down.
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