Super telescope looks back 13.5 billion years of failed testing

The world's largest and most powerful space telescope has a problem in the latest test of vibration.

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) did not pass the latest test to test whether a telescope withstands vibration when launched into space, Sputnik reported on January 4.

According to NASA's announcement, in the vibration test that took place on December 3, the telescope's accelerometer detects unexpected abnormalities and terminates the test itself to protect the hardware."In the regular test for NASA's James Webb space telescope, the expected external reaction occurs in some of the more than 100 devices used to detect small changes in the movement of the machine. This forced engineers to stop testing to determine the cause, " NASA said.

The James Webb space telescope can look back past the universe's 13.5 billion years.(Photo: NASA).

Eric Smith, NASA director of the James Webb space telescope program in Washington, said the team of technicians is conducting analyzes to reconsider the incident, make final conclusions and plan ahead. Vibration testing continued at the end of January.

From November 2016, JWST participated in a series of experiments at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland to be ready to launch into space next October.

Telescope James Webb is described as a "time machine" that can decipher the secrets of the universe. The glass will be used to look back past 13.5 billion years before the first galaxies were born in the early universe and observe the origins of stars, exoplanets, moons and planets. in the solar system. When launched in 2018, this will be the largest and strongest telescope in the world.

The main part of the telescope is a primary mirror, consisting of 18 hexagonal mirrors. The huge gold mirror surface created from 18 panels will combine together into a unified whole. Each coffee-sized mirror is made of beryllium metal and weighs about 20.8kg, coated with a thin layer of gold to optimize the ability of refraction of infrared light.