Why didn’t they put a strong shield in front of the mirrors to protect them?
Star Trek tech, please come to the rescue!
Shields up...
😁
Too much weight. These micro object are traveling a great speeds and it would take a hefty shield to protect. Then there is a problem with a shield affecting the optics of the primary mirror.
The whole purpose is to get Webb out there where we can get a better view of the universe than we can on the surface. Not sure how we could put a shield up that wouldn’t itself be very expensive, subject to damage and actually block our view instead of making it better. What kind of shield did you have in mind?
In addition, if the primary mirror could be shielded, a lot of impact marks on the shield could affect the optics.
You obviously don’t understand optics