The launch of the James Webb Space Telescope project itself was an extremely risky undertaking, because the cost of this device reaches 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 malfunction of the device. But it turned out that serious problems with a space telescope can also arise after launching into space – most recently, on December 7, NASA specialists almost lost expensive equipment due to the fact that the James Webb telescope’s orientation system in space failed.
The information publication Space, citing NASA employees, reports that on December 7, due to a software failure, the James Webb space telescope was forced to put all systems into safe mode due to the fact that it became impossible to control the orientation of the observatory. And this is actually a huge problem, because due to the design features, the telescope must always be a thermal shield to the Sun – only in this case the cooling system will be able to withstand the temperature regime. If the telescope were rotated at a sufficient angle, then the hardware could well fail.
In addition, in order for the James Webb to communicate with the ground station, the telescope must be directed by the signal source towards the Earth. Due to the fact that the object lost its orientation in space, communication with the station was constantly lost, which significantly complicated the process of finding the cause of the breakdown. As a result, the telescope went into safe mode several times, periodically connecting and disconnecting its equipment – this should help specialists find the problem. And in almost a year in space, this is the first time that the expensive observatory has been forced to resort to this last resort.
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 orientation system in space. Now the telescope is not in danger, and experts from NASA confidently declare that James Webb was not injured and is working properly. However, no one doubted that this is exactly what the agency’s press release would say – it’s scary to imagine the level of indignation of taxpayers if the most expensive telescope in the history of mankind, created with their money, burned down after a year of operation.
Source: Trash Box
Charles Grill is a tech-savvy writer with over 3 years of experience in the field. He writes on a variety of technology-related topics and has a strong focus on the latest advancements in the industry. He is connected with several online news websites and is currently contributing to a technology-focused platform.
