James Webb Space Telescope suffers glitch, NASA launches probe
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In a mission update, the officials said, "Analysis of MIRI`s Medium Resolution Spectroscopy (MRS) mode revealed that at the longest wavelengths, the throughput, or the amount of light that is ultimately registered by MIRI`s sensors, has decreased since commissioning last year."
The update said that no effect had been seen for MIRI imaging, and there was no risk to the instrument. "All other observation modes -- within MIRI and each of Webb`s other scientific instruments -- remain unaffected," it added.
The Webb team would continue MIRI observations as planned. The team would gather all relevant ground test and flight data to fully assess the MRS performance. Further test observations would be taken to completely characterise the nature of the issue using this particular mode of observation, IANS reported.
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The team said that it continues to investigate the case, identify risks and explore mitigations which would potentially improve performance. The team added that one possible mitigation strategy included taking slightly longer exposures at the affected wavelengths to increase the signal-to-noise.
This was not the first time that the MIRI faced a glitch with the MRS. Last year, the instrument had a stuck grating wheel for a few months between August and November, but MIRI was still able to observe in other modes.
(With inputs from agencies)
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Wednesday, April 26, 2023 at 4:54 am