Honeycomb Mirrors Makes NASA’s Webb the Most Powerful Space Telescope NASA's James Webb Space Telescope needed a primary mirror so large it couldn’t fit in an existing rocket, so the team took a lesson from honeybees. Their efficient honeycomb pattern used inside beehives allows each mirror to perfectly fit together at their edges, effectively creating a singular and massively powerful unit. The 18 hexagonal mirror segments are able to fold to fit inside the rocket fairing. Each gold-plated hexagon is equipped with a set of actuators, which are small devices that allow for impressively accura
Honeycomb Mirrors Makes NASA’s Webb the Most Powerful Space Telescope NASA's James Webb Space Telescope needed a primary mirror so large it couldn’t fit in an existing rocket, so the team took a lesson from honeybees. Their efficient honeycomb pattern used inside beehives allows each mirror to perfectly fit together at their edges, effectively creating a singular and massively powerful unit. The 18 hexagonal mirror segments are able to fold to fit inside the rocket fairing. Each gold-plated hexagon is equipped with a set of actuators, which are small devices that allow for impressively accurate fine-tuning of their position, angle and even curvature. If adjustments need to be made, they can be precisely applied to each, without disturbing the others while in space.
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Keywords: astronomy, jwst, mirror, space, telescope, webb
