NASA Successfully Deployed the Sunshield on the James Webb Space Telescope

Ever since its launch on Christmas Day, space enthusiasts were eager to know if the sunshield on the JWST that is designed to protect the sensitive instruments on board would be deployed to perfection. To rightfully take the place of the mighty Hubble, the JWST has to overcome itsAs NASA detailed in its press release, together, the five thin plastic sheets will provide a Sun Protection Factor of the order of 1 million.

The sunscreen had to be first unfolded and then pulled taut. During this time, 139 of the 178 release mechanisms on the telescope were involved along with 70 hinge assemblies, eight deployment motors, about 400 pulleys, and 90 cables that were about a quarter of a mile long, the press release said.

The deployment was originally scheduled to take place over six days but NASA staff took a break on New Year weekend while some continued to make adjustments based on the data received from the spacecraft,The solar arrays on the telescope were generating limited power but a rebalancing of the arrays seems to have fixed the issue.

The deployment of the shield that will protect the spacecraft not only from the sun but also light and heat from the Earth and its moon marks the completion of up to 75 percent of the single point failures in the mission, The Verge reported. The deployment phase still has about five and half months to go, with the primary and secondary mirrors, alignment of the telescope's optics, and calibration of the instruments to be completed before the first image can be received.

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