Once unfolded, pulled taut and separated, with gaps between each layer to allow residual heat to escape to the sides, the sunshade will constantly face the sun, blocking out the heat and light that otherwise would blind Webb's sensitive instruments.
Then the telescope itself — the primary mirror and instrument housing — were elevated four feet above the plane of the sunshade to provide additional cooling and clearance for the shield's unfolding. Two views of the Mission Operations Center at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, along with a telemetry-driven graphic showing how the final two layers in Webb's sunshield were being pulled taut. Project manager Bill Ochs can be seen looking on at lower right."I can tell you the mood was... hard to describe," said Stock."It was a wonderful moment, there was a lot of joy, a lot of relief.
"We've trained for this from 2016, when we first built these tensioning units, and we've been tracking it all the way through," Stock said."And what we're seeing is really the heartbeat of this mechanism. And this mechanism is very intricate and very complex. But because of that, we're able to glean so much of the hardware position, the hardware resistance, and all of that from the motor telemetry.
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