Space Rock Strike on Webb Telescope Was Just Bad Luck, NASA Team Says

In late May, the Webb Space Telescope’s tranquil commissioning course of was interrupted by an uncommonly massive micrometeoroid strike on one of many $10 billion observatory’s mirrors. Now, a NASA-led evaluation of the occasion signifies the affect was a statistical anomaly and the telescope shall be much less prone to area rock injury within the future.

Micrometeoroids are items of fast-moving area particles. Most micrometeoroid impacts on spacecraft are too small to be measured; in accordance with a NASA release, Webb averages one to 2 measurable strikes monthly.

A July report by the Space Telescope Science Institute discovered that the May strike prompted noticeable injury to the telescope’s C3 section, considered one of Webb’s 18 hexagonal mirrors. In spite of the affect, the group’s evaluation was that Webb “should meet its optical performance requirements for many years.”

“Even after this event our current optical performance is still twice as good as our requirements,” mentioned Mike Menzel, Webb lead mission methods engineer at NASA, in an company release.

In different phrases, the affect didn’t have an effect on the telescope’s skill to do its job: observing among the oldest mild within the universe, with a view to higher perceive the primary stars and the evolution of galaxies. Webb has even turned its infrared eye on our photo voltaic system neighbors.

At that point, the Webb group’s chief concern was whether or not the May strike was consultant of extra hits to come or simply dangerous luck. The new evaluation—performed by a bunch of NASA consultants, the telescope’s mirror producer, and the Space Telescope Science Institute—signifies the latter.

After the May affect, NASA turned Webb away from the micrometeoroid avoidance zone, to protect the mirrors from the tiny area rocks. Some of the particles can zip by at 22,000 miles per hour, which means they’ll pack a punch if hanging a delicate a part of the telescope.

“Micrometeoroids that strike the mirror head on (moving opposite the direction the telescope is moving) have twice the relative velocity and four times the kinetic energy, so avoiding this direction when feasible will help extend the exquisite optical performance for decades,” mentioned Lee Feinberg, Webb optical telescope component supervisor at NASA Goddard, in an company release.

Webb will nonetheless be capable of make observations within the route of the avoidance zone, however it’s going to accomplish that at one other time of 12 months, when Webb is at a distinct level in its orbit and thus much less prone to dangerous micrometeoroid strikes.

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