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NASA's James Webb Space Telescope |
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is 1.5 million kilometres from Earth and in orbit around the Sun. It is now poised to cross the route of the Halley's Comet, which has left a trail of debris in the inner solar system. NASA is concerned about this threat after the $10 billion James Webb Telescope was struck by a micrometeoroid in May 2022, causing irreparable damage to its critically crucial mirror. Scientists are now working on a method to avert a repeat of such an incidence.
Is this comet a threat to the upcoming Webb Space Telescope? According to Forbes, "Halley's comet will not collide with the Webb telescope." Halley's comet, on the other hand, circles the Sun every 75 years or so. As a result, Halley's comet will not return to the inner solar system until 2061, when it will make a close encounter with Earth. "Webb will almost certainly be obsolete by then," according to the paper, "but humanity's top space observatory is expected to endure until the early 2040s."
Why do comets and meteoroids endanger the James Webb Space Telescope?
The James Webb Telescope's developers predict that it will be struck by one meteoroid every month. This striking rate may increase higher if the telescope passes through a meteor stream. Because comets are mostly composed of dust, pebbles, and ice, they melt and shed material when they approach the Sun. Comets spew a torrent of debris as they travel through space.
"Even small particles can inflict physical damage to spacecraft when they collide at the speeds attained in space," according to a Nature investigation. According to the source, NASA's meteoroid environment office at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, is now computing meteor-shower estimates for the benefit of Webb Telescope engineers. It might include changing Webb's aim away from the oncoming particles to keep them from colliding with the mirrors.