{"id":10731,"date":"2022-01-04T18:03:36","date_gmt":"2022-01-04T10:03:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/we-nailed-it-webb-clears-major-hurdle-with-full-sunshade-deployment\/"},"modified":"2022-01-04T18:03:36","modified_gmt":"2022-01-04T10:03:36","slug":"we-nailed-it-webb-clears-major-hurdle-with-full-sunshade-deployment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/we-nailed-it-webb-clears-major-hurdle-with-full-sunshade-deployment\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We nailed it!\u2019 Webb clears major hurdle with full sunshade deployment"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Artist\u2019s illustration of the James Webb Space Telescope, as it appeared Jan. 4 after sunshield tensioning. Credit: NASA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The final layers of the James Webb Space Telescope\u2019s sunshade were robotically pulled taut with a system of motors, cables, and pulleys Tuesday, clearing a major milestone before unfolding mirrors to collect light from the oldest galaxies in the universe.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe nailed it,\u201d said Alphonso Stewart, Webb\u2019s deployment systems engineer at NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center.<\/p>\n

The achievement means NASA has retired around three-quarters of Webb\u2019s 344 mission-critical single-point failures, devices and components that have to work for the observatory to complete its mission.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday was a big day, obviously, for us,\u201d said James Cooper, Webb\u2019s sunshield manager at NASA. \u201cWe finished tensioning the last two layers of the sunshield, so that completes the sunshield deployment steps.\u201d<\/p>\n

The sunshade\u2019s deployment and tensioning plunged the Webb telescope\u2019s mirrors and instruments into eternal darkness, allowing the sensors to begin cooling down to minus 388 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 233 degrees Celsius), or 40 degrees above absolute zero.<\/p>\n

The cold temperatures are necessary for Webb\u2019s science instruments to register the faint infrared light, or heat signature, from the first galaxies and stars that formed after the Big Bang. Webb is designed to peer back to within 100 million to 200 million years of the violent birth of the universe, which occurred some 13.8 billion years ago.<\/p>\n

The Webb telescope unfurled its sunshield into its distinctive diamond shape New Year\u2019s Eve, guided by two mid-booms that extended from each side of the spacecraft. After pausing deployment steps over the weekend to resolve minor concerns about Webb\u2019s solar panel power levels and motor temperatures, mission controllers on Monday started critical work to begin tensioning the five-layer thermal barrier.<\/p>\n

Beginning with the outermost, sun-facing membrane, the first three layers of the sunshade were tensioned Monday. Mission controllers at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, resumed tensioning operations Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n

Six motors positioned at tension points around the perimeter of the sunshield pulled on cables to tug each layer into its final fully taut position. Ground teams announced the final layer was tensioned at 11:59 a.m. EST (1659 GMT) Tuesday, prompting applause in the control center in Baltimore.<\/p>\n

\u201cMOM, I can confirm the final latch signature \u2026 which indicates that all five layers are fully tensioned,\u201d said a member of the Webb control team to the Mission Operations Manager, Carl Starr.<\/p>\n

Starr replied: \u201cSignificant milestone accomplished. Job well done, sunshield team. Job well done.\u201d<\/p>\n