The powerful next-generation James Webb telescope was hit by space debris called micrometeoroids, which caused a “marginally detectable effect on the data,” but has not been damaged, according to NASA.
Since its launch on December 25 last year, the Webb telescope has faced four blows of smaller measurable micrometeoroids. However, this more recent “impact” was greater than it was modeled, and beyond what the team could have tested on the ground, “NASA officials wrote in a blog post.
“Between May 23 and 25, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope suffered an impact on one of its primary mirror segments. After initial assessments, the team found that the telescope was still operating at a certain level. which exceeds all mission requirements despite a marginally detectable effect on the data, “the blog post read.
“Since the launch, we’ve had four times smaller measurable micrometeoroids that were consistent with expectations, and this one is more recent than our predictions of degradation were,” said Lee Feinberg, Webb Optical Telescope Element Manager. at NASA Goddard.
Micrometeoroid shocks are an inevitable aspect of the operation of any spacecraft, which routinely withstands many impacts throughout long and productive scientific missions into space.
While Webb is no different, these events were anticipated when the ground-based telescope mirror was built and tested. The Webb mirror is designed to withstand the bombardment of the micrometeoroid environment in its orbit around the L2 Sun-Earth of dust-sized particles flying at extreme speeds.
“We always knew that Webb would have to cope with the space environment, which includes harsh ultraviolet light and charged particles from the Sun, cosmic rays from exotic sources in the galaxy, and occasional micrometeoroid strikes within our solar system,” said Paul Geithner. technical assistant director of the project at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
“We have designed and built Webb with a range of performance, optical, thermal, electrical, mechanical, to ensure that it can carry out its ambitious scientific mission even after many years in space,” he added.
In addition, NASA said the recent impact was not the result of a meteor shower and is now considered an “inevitable accidental event.”
Feinberg said the occasional impact of micrometeoroids is expected to “gracefully degrade the telescope’s performance over time.”
As a result, the agency has formed a specialized team of engineers to look for ways to mitigate the effects of more micrometeoroid shocks on this scale.
Meanwhile, NASA also stated that the recent impact “did not lead to any change in Webb’s schedule of operations.” NASA expects to present the first scientific-quality images of the telescope on July 12 and also to begin scientific operations.
The $ 10 billion Webb telescope, an international program led by NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency, will explore every phase of cosmic history, from our solar system to observable galaxies. farthest from the early universe.
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