3 ms·

I'm interested in the "strikes higher than expected" all I can find online is the one big strike a couple of weeks ago. Is there details online about the number

• pja 4y ago
  It had one micrometeoroid strike that was larger than expected. This might mean the rate of strikes will be much larger than predicted, or it might be that we were just unlucky. We'll know more in a few months.
• widerporst 4y ago
  As of yet, there was only this one big strike that is a real problem. The frequency of micrometeoroids of this size and energy was predicted to be fairly low, so it isn't certain yet if this was extremely bad luck or if these events are more frequent than anticipated (which would be very bad news). The JWST performance report[1] says on page 18/19: "It is not yet clear whether the May 2022 hit to segment C3 was a rare event (i.e. an unlucky early strike by a high kinetic energy micrometeoroid that statistically might occur only once in several years), or whether the telescope may be more susceptible to damage by micrometeoroids than pre-launch modeling predicted." [1]: https://www.stsci.edu/files/live/sites/www/files/home/jwst/documentation/_documents/jwst-science-performance-report.pdf https://www.stsci.edu/files/live/sites/www/files/home/jwst/d...