https://sputnikglobe.com/20220720/nasa-engineers-seek-to-protect-webb-space-telescope-from-meteorites---science-chief-1097629006.html
NASA Engineers Seek to Protect Webb Space Telescope From Meteorites
NASA Engineers Seek to Protect Webb Space Telescope From Meteorites
Sputnik International
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - NASA engineers are worried that larger micro-meteorite hits could eventually degrade the performance of the James Webb Space Telescope... 20.07.2022, Sputnik International
2022-07-20T16:51+0000
2022-07-20T16:51+0000
2023-04-12T16:58+0000
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According to Zurbichen, they are already working on countermeasures including possibly flying the telescope into a dust stream.The Webb design and operational team had anticipated occasional micrometeorite hits but not so many and of smaller size, Zurbuchen said. His team was already working on countermeasures, he said."We need to understand how heavy these hits are going to be [and].can we protect the telescope more by flying back into a dust stream and we are looking at that right now," he added.Zurbuchen compared the impact so far to a dent on a small car that by itself did not affect performance in any way.Earlier, NASA reported that a meteoroid hit on the telescope had caused "significant uncorrectable" damage to one of the panels it uses to stare into deep space.
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james webb space telescope, meteorite, nasa, space
NASA Engineers Seek to Protect Webb Space Telescope From Meteorites
16:51 GMT 20.07.2022 (Updated: 16:58 GMT 12.04.2023) WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - NASA engineers are worried that larger micro-meteorite hits could eventually degrade the performance of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) deployed a million miles from Earth, the space agency science chief Thomas Zurbuchen said on Wednesday.
According to Zurbichen, they are already working on countermeasures including possibly flying the telescope into a dust stream.
"Space is not empty, it has dust in it," Zurbuchen, NASA's Science Mission Directorate Associate Administrator, said in a Washington Post podcast. "We have been hot six times already. There was this bigger one that came too early and it makes us nervous."
The Webb design and operational team had anticipated occasional micrometeorite hits but not so many and of smaller size, Zurbuchen said. His team was already working on countermeasures, he said.
"We need to understand how heavy these hits are going to be [and].can we protect the telescope more by flying back into a dust stream and we are looking at that right now," he added.
Zurbuchen compared the impact so far to a dent on a small car that by itself did not affect performance in any way.
Earlier, NASA reported that a meteoroid hit on the telescope had caused
"significant uncorrectable" damage to one of the panels it uses to stare into deep space.
"Each micrometeoroid caused degradation in the wavefront of the impacted mirror segment, as measured during regular wavefront sensing," the space agency said.
