When you can’t practice: model ✨
When you can’t practice: model :
The telescope’s stunning images showing previously unseen corners of the universe are possible because of the telescope’s 21-foot segmented mirror that had to unfurl on its own after launch and assemble itself in space. Plenty of testing went into the materials, design, and process over the decades it took to develop the largest telescope in space, but the whole project was just too large to test on the ground, at scale, at minus 400ºF and other space-like conditions.
Instead, engineers relied more than ever before on software to simulate how the telescope would behave under wide-ranging space conditions, work that has helped advance the whole field of integrated modeling.
Meanwhile, designers of more earthly technologies are already seeing the benefits of an improved modeling software, which has been used to design precision endoscopes, a thermal imager to detect COVID-19 exposures in a crowd, augmented reality displays and headsets, a laser thruster technology for nanosatellites, and, of course, more telescopes.
This is one of many spinoffs, or NASA technologies that benefit life on Earth in the form of commercial products. We’ve profiled more than 2,000 spinoffs since 1976 — there’s more space in your life than you think!
Image description: At the center is a thin horizontal orange cloud tilted from bottom left to top right. It takes up about two-thirds of the length of this angle, but is thin at the opposite angle. At its center is a set of very large red and pink diffraction spikes in Webb’s familiar eight-pointed pattern. It has a central yellow-white blob, which hides two tightly orbiting stars. The background is filled with stars and galaxies.
Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA. Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)
#NASA #JWST #NASAWebb #Space #SpinOff #Innovation
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04 February 2024
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