Tiny object hits Webb telescope

WASHINGTON: A mirror on the James Webb Space Telescope was struck by a micrometeoroid last month, but is expected to continue to function normally, Nasa said on Thursday.

“After initial assessments, the team found the telescope is still performing at a level that exceeds all mission requirements despite a marginally detectable effect in the data,” the US space agency said.

“Webb’s beginning-of-life performance is still well above expectations, and the observatory is fully capable of performing the science it was designed to achieve,” it added.

One of the space observatory’s primary mirror segments suffered an impact from a micrometeoroid, which tend to be smaller than a grain of sand, between May 23 and 25.

The telescope, which is expected to cost Nasa nearly $10 billion, is among the most expensive scientific platforms ever built, comparable to its predecessor Hubble, and the Large Hadron Collider at CERN.