James Webb Telescope Got Hit By A Micrometeoroid, And NASA Says All Is Well

Around May 23rd and May 25, the newly installed James Webb telescope came in contact with a micrometeoroid that hit the telescope¡¯s primary mirror segment.

NASA

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NASA has revealed that the event was considerable enough for NASA to pick up a marginally detectable effect in the data, but not enough to affect the performance of the telescope.

NASA revealed in a statement that the James Webb team performed an initial analysis and found that it continues to perform at a level exceeding all mission requirements.

Lee Feinberg, Webb optical telescope element manager at NASA Goddard, said in a statement,

"With Webb¡¯s mirrors exposed to space, we expected that occasional micrometeoroid impacts would gracefully degrade telescope performance over time. Since launch, we have had four smaller measurable micrometeoroid strikes that were consistent with expectations and this one more recently that is larger than our degradation predictions assumed.¡±

He added, ¡°We will use this flight data to update our analysis of performance over time and also develop operational approaches to assure we maximise the imaging performance of Webb to the best extent possible for many years to come."

They highlight that engineers made use of simulations as well as conducted tests for impacts on mirror samples while creating the telescope to make sure it¡¯s strong enough.

In one of the instances, NASA revealed that the telescope¡¯s flight teams were capable of performing evasive manoeuvres, allowing for the optics to turn away from known meteor showers.

NASA

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The most recent impact that was experienced by the telescope was categorised as an unavoidable chance event, with the micrometeoroid being larger than what engineers could have tested on Earth.

The telescope however has the capability to shift its mirror positions to minimise the results of a damaging impact. In fact, they've already made several adjustments to make up for the damage on the affected section.

It has also formed a team with engineers to figure out ways to avoid the effects of hits of such scale in the future.

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