When you can’t practice: model ✨⁣ ⁣ A tightly bound pair of actively forming stars, known as Herbig-Haro 46/47, are captured in high-resolution near-infrared light by NASAWebb, which launched in December 2021.⁣ ⁣ 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 improve...