One of NASA’s space observatory’s 18 golden mirrors, the James Webb Space Telescope, was hit by a tiny space rock larger than anything they’ve tested on the ground. The telescope is fine after impact, but the news has updated the mission’s risks.
Everything remains in perfect condition, assures NASA in a statement, and July 12 remains the long-awaited date on which the first color images of a telescope that promises to change our view of the universe, the James Web, will be shared.
The possibilities of impact with micrometeorites
Prior to its launch on Saturday, January 8, NASA ran a broadcast showing the likelihood of James Webb being hit by small particles of space debris, such as micrometeoroids, small meteor fragments, and other objects, which would normally weigh less. than a teaspoon of salt.
Any spacecraft suffers many impacts in the course of long and productive scientific missions in space.
Between May 23 and 25, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope had an impact on one of its primary mirror segments. After initial assessments, the team found that the telescope still functions at a level that exceeds all mission requirements, despite a marginally detectable effect on the data.
Comprehensive analysis and measurements are underway. Impacts will continue to occur throughout Webb’s life in space.
Webb’s mirror was designed to resist the bombardment of the environment of micrometeorites in their orbit around the Sun-Earth L2 of dust-sized particles flying at extreme speeds.
“We always knew that Webb would have to withstand the space environment, which includes strong ultraviolet light and charged particles from the Sun, cosmic rays from exotic sources in the galaxy, and occasional micrometeoroid impacts in our solar system,” explains Paul Geithner. , deputy technical director of projects at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “We designed and built the performance-capable Webb (optical, thermal, electrical, mechanical) to ensure it can fulfill its ambitious science mission even after many years in space.”
Where did the micrometeorite that hit Webb come from?
This most recent impact was not the result of a meteor shower and is currently considered an unavoidable chance event. As a result of the impact, a specialized team of engineers was formed to look for ways to mitigate the effects of further micrometeorite impacts of this scale.
Lee Feinberg, Webb Optical Telescope Element Manager at NASA Goddard explains: “Since launch, we have had four smaller measurable micrometeorite impacts that were consistent with expectations and this most recent one is greater than our assumed degradation predictions. . We will use this flight data to update our performance analysis over time and also develop operational approaches to ensure we maximize Webb’s imaging performance in the best possible way for many years to come.”
