From now on, the James Webb telescope will never see direct sunlight again. The telescope has also been given the distinctive shape of a diamond.
In the past few days, however, some crosses have already been made. For example, the day before yesterday, James Webb stretched out his “neck”. This created an opening, creating sufficient space for the sun shield to fully unfold. In addition, on December 30, the covers that covered the folded sun shield were also successfully removed.
This morning at 4:13 a.m. Dutch time, the entire procedure was completed. A total of 107 release mechanisms have been activated to unfold the sun shield. As a result, the telescope now has a diameter of more than fourteen meters. The sun shield is a kind of umbrella that protects the instruments and mirrors of the telescope from the heat of the sun. This keeps the highly sensitive infrared instruments cold and allows them to continue to function properly.
Shine bright like a diamond
With the successful deployment of our right sunshield mid-boom, or “arm,” Webb’s sunshield has now taken on its diamond shape in space. Next up: tensioning the 5 sunshield layers! https://t.co/6G2caS1djY #UnfoldTheUniverse pic.twitter.com/q0iuHdnKlN
— NASA Webb Telescope (@NASAWebb) January 1, 2022
Although the sun shield is now unfolded, the shield still needs to be pulled tight. This process is taking place a little later than planned as the James Webb team gets an extra day of rest today. The expectation is that the shield will be taut after the weekend.