Since being launched into space in December last year, James Webb - the world’s most modern space telescope has been repeatedly ’hit’ by micro-meteorites. As revealed by NASA, there have been 14 collisions between small asteroid samples (or space microparticles) and the telescope worth $ 10 billion recorded, causing irreparable damage.
"We recorded 14 times small meteorites collide with the mirror on James Webb, with an average frequency of one to two occurrences per month," said Mike Menzel, James Webb mission chief engineer, of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center shared on the blog.
James Webb Telescope under assembly
Notably, most of such incidents fall within NASA’s previous calculations. However, a collision occurred in May 2022, when a small meteorite crashed into James Webb’s 6.5m gilded mirror. Classified by NASA as an "inevitable random event," the collision caused the James Webb telescope to deviate slightly from its established position in space. However, NASA engineers were able to adjust the position of 18 mirrors so that James Webb could still function normally in his new position in space.
In fact, such incidents are not uncommon. Space is a dangerous place for scientific instruments to operate, with ongoing threats including intense cosmic rays, harsh ultraviolet light, and charged particles from the Sun as well as Small pieces of meteorites move at extremely high speeds.
However, glass operations engineers James Webb proactively took precautions to minimize the possibility of further damage to the glass. Specifically, the James Webb telescope will reduce the time it takes to turn the glass in the direction known as the "space particle avoidance area" - where many small meteorites move at extremely high speeds according to NASA statistics.
Another risk that can be mentioned is meteor showers, which are remnants left in the path of comets as they move through the solar system.
This is a possible scenario in May 2023 and May 2024, when James Webb will likely encounter layers of dust emanating from the tail of Halley’s comet.
“The micrometeorites move in the opposite direction of the glass, having twice the relative velocity and four times the kinetic energy. Therefore, proactively controlling the orientation of the glass when possible will help extend the life and performance of the glasses for decades," said Lee Feinberg, director of James Webb’s optics team at NASA.
Refer to Space.com/wikipedia
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), formerly known as the Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST), is a space telescope that has been built and was launched at 19:20. Vietnam time) December 25, 2021. The JWST has unprecedented sensitivity and resolution with the ability to collect from visible to mid-infrared wavelengths, and is the next generation of telescopes in the telescope. the Hubble Space Telescope and the Spitzer Space Telescope. The telescope features a 6.5-meter-diameter composite primary mirror that is delivered by rocket to point L2 of the Solar-Earth system. Large solar panels will keep the mirror and four scientific instruments below 50 K (−220 °C; −370 °F).
