(ORDO NEWS) — The world‘s most powerful observatory experienced a technical failure, and scientific operations using the MIRI instrument were suspended.
The James Webb Space Telescope, located 150,000 kilometers from Earth, remains vulnerable to harsh space conditions. The spacecraft ran into a new technical problem after a problem with its mid-infrared instrument (MIRI) was discovered.
On August 4, spectroscopy showed increased friction during the adjustment of scientific observation instruments.
Following the anomaly, NASA conducted preliminary health checks and investigations into the problem. A commission has been formed to evaluate the next step to resume normal operations.
The team maintaining the James Webb Telescope has put a hold on scheduling observations using a particular observing mode.
The mechanism that has run into trouble is the lattice wheel, which allows scientists to choose between short, medium and longer wavelengths when making observations using Medium Resolution Spectroscopy (MRS) mode.
The team of scientists is now analyzing the behavior of the observatory and is currently developing strategies to resume MRS observations as soon as possible.
“The observatory is in good condition and the other three MIRI observing modes – Imaging, Low-Resolution Spectroscopy and Coronagraph are operating normally and remain available for scientific observations,” the European Space Agency (ESA) said.
This is not the first time that scientists have reported damage to the telescope . The $10 billion observatory had previously suffered a micrometeorite impact in the final stages of commissioning.
NASA reported that between May 23 and May 25, the James Webb Space Telescope received an impact on one of its main mirror segments.
However, the spacecraft performed normally, taking high-quality images that amazed the world. The Webb Mirror was designed to withstand the bombardment of tiny particles flying through space at extreme speeds.
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