Webb’s cameras and spectrographs need to be cold. Really cold. They need to be so cold that engineers created specialized mechanisms to reduce their heat in addition to the shade provided by the large sunshield. One such mechanism is the Aft Deployable Instrument Radiator, or ADIR.
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Today’s excitement came directly from the NASA livestream of the Mission Operations Center at Space Telescope Science Institute during the deployment of Webb’s secondary mirror. Webb Program Manager Bill Ochs exclaimed, “We have a telescope!” as the latching process was confirmed, and the secondary mirror was fully deployed.
From an engineering perspective, Webb’s sunshield was one of the most difficult challenges to overcome in building the telescope. Unlike other parts of the telescope, the sunshield layers are very thin and easily damaged. How could the sunshield be safely and efficiently stored, and then deployed without tearing?
The year 2021 ended for the Webb Telescope in a nominal way. “Nominal” is spacecraft lingo for “everything is going just as it should” and that’s great! Both sides of the telescope’s sunshield’s booms (arms) were pulled out without any problems.
Today saw the beginning of one of the most difficult Webb deployments so far, the sunshield rollout. The Webb telescope observes in ultraviolet light and needs to be kept very cold in order to collect the faint light from distant galaxies. A key component to keep the telescope cold is Webb’s sunshield. This large structure, the size of a tennis court, is made up of 5 layers of very thin material.
The Webb team at the Mission Operations Center (MOC) at Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland started the day with an early morning deployment. The Aft Momentum Flap was successfully lowered into its final position. The deployment was finished at 9:00 am EST.
Because of its picture-perfect launch, Webb used less fuel than anticipated for its mid-course correction burns. Less fuel burned now means more fuel later to keep Webb in its orbit around L2.
Unitized Pallet Structures (UPS) unfold. These two pallets (one forward and the other aft) hold the folded sunshield layers. The forward UPS went first. To prepare for the deployment, the spacecraft was maneuvered to provide warmer temperatures on the forward UPS and various heaters were activated to warm key deployment components. Key release devices were activated, and various electronics and software were configured. NASA announced successful deployment of the forward pallet at 1:51 eastern today.
Webb already passed several milestones since its spectacular launch last Saturday. It separated from the Ariane 5 rocket, unfolded its solar panels, and completed two engine burns to adjust its course. It also unfolded its gimbaled antenna for better communications.
Today, the James Webb Space Telescope successfully blasted off from the European Space Agency’s launch site in Kourou, French Guiana and started the month-long journey to its new home, 1 million miles from Earth.
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is ready for launch from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana. More than 20 years in the making, JWST’s observations of the cosmos will change our understanding of our universe.
Using observations and archival data from several of NSF’s NOIRLab’s observatories, together with observations from telescopes around the world and in orbit, astronomers have discovered at least 70 new free-floating planets — planets that wander through space without a parent star — in a nearby region of the Milky Way.
Astronomers have made the most precise measurements yet of the motions of stars around the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. These results, obtained with the help of the Gemini North telescope, show that 99.9% of the mass contained at the very center of the galaxy is due to the black hole, and only 0.1% could include stars, smaller black holes, interstellar dust and gas, or dark matter.
AURA is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Željko Ivezić as the next Director of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory Construction Project
commissioning phase (OCP). Starting on December 6, 2021, and weather permitting, DKIST will perform first science observations, implementing observing experiments submitted by community members during the first proposal call.
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