Webb telescope suffered ‘uncorrectable damage’ in micrometeoroid hit, NASA report says

Addy Bink, Nexstar Media Wire

Tue, July 19, 2022 at 8:09 PM·5 min read

(NEXSTAR) – A micrometeoroid caused “significant uncorrectable damage” to NASA’s $10 billion James Webb Telescope, a new report explains. While experts say the impact was small, it has prompted further investigation.

At 21 feet, Webb’s gold-plated, flower-shaped mirror is the biggest and most sensitive ever sent into space. It’s comprised of 18 segments, one of which was smacked by the bigger than anticipated micrometeoroid in May. Micrometeoroids are fragments of asteroids that are usually smaller than a grain of sand, according to NASA.

At the time, Paul Geithner, technical