The launch of the James Webb Space Telescope project was an extremely risky demonstration, because the cost of this device reached 10 billion dollars, it was extremely difficult to send it into space and reveal all the structural elements – any mistake could lead to a complete telescope. device malfunction. But it turns out that serious problems with the space telescope can arise even after launch – very recently, on December 7, NASA experts almost lost expensive equipment due to the failure of the James Webb telescope’s guidance system in space.
Information publication Space, citing NASA employees, reported on December 7 that due to a software error, the James Webb space telescope had to put all systems in safe mode, as it became impossible to control the orientation of the observatory. And this is actually a huge problem, because due to its design features, the telescope should always be a thermal shield from the Sun – only then can the cooling system withstand the temperature regime. If the telescope rotates at a sufficient angle, the hardware may well fail.
Also, for “James Webb” to maintain communication with the ground station, the telescope must be pointed towards Earth by the signal source. Due to the disorientation of the object in space, communication with the station was constantly lost, which significantly complicated the process of finding the cause of the malfunction. As a result, the telescope went into safe mode several times, periodically connecting and disconnecting its equipment – this should help experts find the problem. And in almost a year in space, this is the first time the expensive observatory has had to take such an extreme measure.
Because of this, scientists had to suspend their scientific projects and observations for several days – only on December 20, almost two weeks later, NASA engineers managed to find an error and calibrate the navigation system in space. Now the telescope is safe and NASA experts confidently state that James Webb was uninjured and functioning properly. However, no one doubted that the agency would say exactly that in its press release – it’s scary to imagine the level of taxpayers’ anger when the most expensive telescope in human history created with their money burns down in the wake of it. working year
Source: Port Altele
