NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope endured damage after being hit by a space rock

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope after revealing historic deep field images of space on July 12 has suffered considerable damage from a crash.

According to the NASA scientist, the damage is done after one segment of Webb’s main mirror was hit by a micrometeoroid sometime around May 23 and 24. The micrometeoroids are particles smaller than a grain of sand formed usually from fragments of asteroids.

The space observatory told previously that the damage is tiny and it won’t impact the overall performance of the Webb telescope. The observatory performed its mission even though Webb’s mirror segment C3 which is one of the beryllium gold tiles that constructs the primary reflector was hit by the micrometeoroid.

According to reports, the Webb telescope has been hit five times and its last impact was dreadful considering in space even a tiny particle can cause immense damage. NASA revealed the information related to the impacts in June when the last one occurred.

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center’s deputy project manager Paul Geithner said, “We always knew that Webb would have to weather the space environment, which includes harsh ultraviolet light and charged particles from the Sun, cosmic rays from exotic sources in the galaxy, and occasional strikes by micrometeoroids within our Solar System…..We designed and built Webb with performance margin – optical, thermal, electrical, mechanical – to ensure it can perform its ambitious science mission even after many years in space.”

The minor inconveniences were fixed by NASA’s engineers, however, astronomers have predicted that if the amounts of impact continue to grow at a sizable amount then it can pose a possible threat to the Webb telescope.

However, the Webb telescope is currently continuing its further missions effortlessly even after being hit several times by space rocks.