Space Daily August 30, 2026 • 11:30

Before JWST began science operations, a dust-sized particle struck one segment of its 6.5-metre mirror at hypervelocity and left an uncorrectable deformation — damage revealed because Webb can detect nanometre-scale changes in its own optical surface. - Space Daily

Before JWST began science operations, a dust-sized particle struck one segment of its 6.5-metre mirror at hypervelocity and left an uncorrectable deformation — damage revealed because Webb can detect nanometre-scale changes in its own optical surface. - Space Daily

Webb detected a permanent deformation on mirror segment C3 through nanometre-scale wavefront sensing, corrected part of it and remained well inside requirements.

Before the James Webb Space Telescope released its first science images, a micrometeoroid struck segment C3 of its 6.5-metre primary mirror. The late-May 2022 impact left a local deformation that Web… [+8955 chars]
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