A robust misinformation campaign would immediately label information leaks as conspiracy theory akin to flat-earthers and moon landing deniers.

The hero could be an individual or group who finds a way to expose the truth.

I see Matt Damon as the lead

Yes, you won’t fool the scientists for long, but the public is not educated in science; nor in critical thinking of any kind.

Think about tobacco carcinogens, agricultural pesticides, lead fuel additives, and yes, climate change. As for historical examples, look back to all the social Darwinism, racial and eugenics propaganda pushed by the NAZIs. And then there was Stalin’s Lysenkoism… The truth will out, eventually, but in the short term it is profits and power that rule.

Scientist deal in truth. They may be mistaken at times, but as a rule they are not malicious. They are no match against the movers and shakers of commerce and politics. For them, truth is negotiable, a mere academic abstraction; something to be managed.

HUGE political and economic interests tried to suppress the science of climate change… they may have swayed a few rubes in the public, but the science kept marching on.

Evidence and scientific method has nothing to do with it.

The twentieth century worked out all the technologies and procedures to implement this scenario. Look at how many outright Big Lies are now routinely accepted by substantial portions of the population in spite of abundant evidence to the contrary. And even more important, consider how many individuals and institutions do not even remotely believe these Lies, but still actively promote them because it otherwise furthers their political, economic or cultural agenda.

Follow the money. I agree that it is highly unlikely (for the reasons you point out) that Rob’s hypothetical scenario would ever materialize, but if someone could devise a way to make it promote their wealth or power, it would quickly become inevitable.

Imagine a marble inside a bowl… it will stay in the bowl indefinitely unless a large amount of energy is imparted to it- that is the situation satellites that orbit the Earth are in…

Now, turn the bowl over and balance the marble on top- it can be done, but its not stable. Now add a oscillating fan pointing at the bowl… this is the situation the JWST is in- the fan is the solar radiation pushing on its huge sunshield. To keep the ‘marble’ balanced you are constantly having to put energy into the system to keep it balanced.