A micrometeorologist hits the newly developed James Webb Space Telescope, overturning one of its gilded out-of-alignment mirrors, NASA says of the May incident.

                        NASA says micrometeorological impacts are an “inevitable aspect of the operation of any spacecraft” and “were expected during the construction and testing of the mirror.”  (AP file)

A mirror on the James Webb Space Telescope was hit by micrometeorologists last month, but is expected to continue to function normally, NASA said. “After initial assessments, the team found that the telescope was still delivering at a level that exceeded all mission requirements despite the marginally detectable effect on the data,” the US space agency said on Thursday. “Webb’s performance at the beginning of his life is still far above expectations and the observatory is fully capable of performing the science it was designed to achieve,” he added. One of the main observatory sections of the space observatory was hit by a micrometeorologist, which tends to be smaller than a grain of sand, between 23 and 25 May. NASA said micrometeorological strikes were an “inevitable aspect of the operation of any spacecraft” and “were expected during the construction and testing of the mirror.” “This latest impact has been greater than planned and beyond what the team could have experienced on the ground,” he said. Lee Feinberg, Webb’s director of optical telescope data at NASA Goddard, said: “Since the launch, we have had four smaller measurable micrometeorological shocks that were in line with expectations,” Feinberg said. Study of space aspects The telescope, which is expected to cost NASA nearly $ 10 billion, is one of the most expensive scientific platforms ever built, comparable to Hubble’s predecessor and the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. Webb’s mission involves studying distant planets, known as exoplanets, to determine their origin, evolution and habitat, and is expected to produce “spectacular color images” of the universe in mid-July. The telescope has spent the last few months aligning its instruments in preparation for the big revelation. NASA said that to protect the Webb, flight crews could remove optics from known meteor showers. He said the May meteor shower was not the result of a meteor shower but an “inevitable accident”. Source: AFP