A week after a quiet admission from the NASA went unnoticed, reporters caught on that a “micrometeoroid” caused “significant uncorrectable damage” to America’s celebrated $10 billion Webb Telescope. The Hubble was notorious for being an endlessly orbiting symbol of American decline. But the Webb?

submitted by Chipit from livescience.com

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[–]iamonlyoneman 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

It wasn't unnoticed in the circle of people who care about such things. But they planned on losing capacity over time so it's a "not a big deal" scenario. And yes, everything in space has a limited service life for this and other reasons.

[–]Chipit[S] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Over time, not immediately.

And obviously they're not going to report this widely. NASA is terrified that their funding will be cut and redirected towards social justice programs. After all, who cares about space exploration other than white people?

[–]iamonlyoneman 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

NASA is already a social justice organization.

[–]raven9 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Hubble is the symbol of a nation that awards authority based on ancestry and wealth instead of intelligence and merit.

You end up with entitled and arrogant, self serving morons in charge at every level and that is exactly what America is from top to bottom. Every workplace, every institution every organization. All built on layers of authority populated by hubris and incompetance. That is why the Hubble mirror was not only made incorrectly but not even tested for accuracy before it was installed. The people in charge are not there for the vocation they are there for the paycheck and the status and they protect that position by shutting down and suppressing anyone who questions their authority or knows better than they do. Usually their mistakes and failures can be covered up, patched up and retro fitted which is pretty much what they did to the Hubble.

As for JWST if there are that many meteors out there that they are already damaging the mirror it probably won't last very long and people might want to ask why did NASA not send a probe out there first to measure the number of impacts that the telescope might be expected to endure?

What they probably ought to do is start researching liquid mirrors. Made of something like mercury so the shape can be controlled by magnetic fields then not only could meteors could pass right through them, the shape of the mirrors could be computer controlled. I should write to NASA about that.

[–]Chipit[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

It was made correctly, it just got hit by meteors. Apparently that was expected. Seems like a reason to not put a telescope there, but hey it gave jobs to wealthy people for quite a long time.

[–]raven9 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I was talking about Hubble. The Hubble mirror was manufactured incorrectly.