JAMES WEB TELESCOPE: Micrometeorite impact higher than expected
The micrometeorite impact occurred between May 23 - 25.
NASA's space telescope suffered its first noticeable micrometeorite impact, less than six months after launch, but the agency is not too worried.
The James Web Telescope launched on December 25, 2021, took several months to travel and position itself in an orbit from which to make scientific observations - a complicated process that went extremely smoothly.
NASA announced that the telescope experienced the first few impacts of tiny particles, known as micrometeorites. Fortunately, there is no panic and it is not expected that this event will affect the schedule, as well as the work of the telescope itself.
"Since the mirrors are exposed to space, we expected that occasional micrometeorite impacts would gradually worsen the telescope's performance over time," said Lee Feinberg, the telescope's optical element manager at NASA."Since the launch, we've had four minor micrometeorite impacts that were in line with expectations, and this one was slightly higher than our degradation predictions recently."
The most serious impact occurred between May 23 and 25th and affected the C3 segment of the 18-piece gold-plated hexagonal primary mirror, the statement said.
It is expected that all spacecraft will experience impacts and are designed with micrometeorites in mind, and the James Web Telescope is no exception. Telescope engineers have even subjected mirror samples to real influences, in order to understand how such events can affect the mission.
However, the recent strike was greater than those modeled by the mission staff or could test in the field, the statement said.
Despite the impact that occurred so early in the mandate of the new telescope, NASA officials are convinced that the telescope, worth 10 billion dollars, will continue to work adequately.
The first images taken with the James Web Telescope are expected on July 12.
