NASA’s James Webb is slowly blooming in space – the $10 billion observatory deployed it secondary mirror support structure on Wednesday.
This secondary mirror measures 2.4 feet in width and can be found at the ends of three booms. It is the second surface where light from the cosmos strikes on its way to the telescope.
The three tubes of carbon fiber are supported from the primary mirror. It is composed of 18 segments.
At 9:52 AM ET, deployment started. The secondary support structure was attached by 11:51 ET.
Within 20 minutes, engineers had confirmed that all the structures were secured and locked in place. The deployment was completed.
NASA’s James Webb is slowly blooming in space – the $10 billion observatory deployed it secondary mirror support structure on Wednesday
Bill Ochs, Webb project manager at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, said at the Mission Operations Center in Baltimore: ‘Another banner day for JWST.
‘This is unbelievable…We’re about 600,000 miles from Earth, and we actually have a telescope.’
NASA explains the ‘secondary mirror is one of the most important pieces of equipment on the telescope, and is essential to the success of the mission.’
The mirror now sits out in front of Webb’s primary mirror to collect light from Webb’s 18 primary mirrors into a focused beam.
NASA today announced this achievement via Twitter
A secondary mirror measuring 2.5 feet across is found on the tips three of the long booms. It is the second surface where the light from space hits as it travels to the telescope. Pictured is the fully deployed secondary mirror during testing
This beam is sent to Webb’s four scientific instruments.
Lee Feinberg, optical telescope element manager for Webb at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, said in a 2019 statement: ‘The proper deployment and positioning of its secondary mirror is what makes this a telescope – without it, Webb would not be able to perform the revolutionary science we expect it to achieve.
‘This successful deployment test is another significant step towards completing the final observatory.’
The three tubes of carbon fiber, called struts or shallow carbon, support it from the large primary, which is made up 18 segments.
Webb achieved this second milestone in just 24 hours. Yesterday, it launched its 70-foot sunshield.
At 11:59 ET, an announcement was made at Baltimore’s observatorium’s control centre. Here, team members cheered.
To tighten the extremely thin layers with motor-driven cables it took less than half the usual time.
The sunshield – about the size of a tennis court at full size – was folded to fit inside the payload area of an Arianespace Ariane 5 rocket’s nose cone prior to launch, which took place on Christmas Day.
Webb achieved this second milestone in just 24 hours. Yesterday, it launched its 70-foot sunshield.
Five-layered, multi-layered shield will shield the telescope from heat, light, and radiation. It also keeps its scientific instruments below -380°F.
Each shield is made of small sheets of plastic, which each are approximately the same thickness as a human hair, and then coated with reflective metal to provide protection up to SPF 1,000,000.
This five-layered shield will keep the telescope safe from heat, light, and radiation, while keeping the temperature of its scientific instruments at -380F.
Webb went into orbit on Christmas Day. This was after many days of development that left some fearful.
The Ariane 5 rocket was used to launch the world’s strongest space telescope. This spectacular feat took place at 7:20 ET.
The rocket was launching its boosters. It soared up to 870 miles, before stopping for cheers.
NASA spokeswoman said Webb’s liftoff would herald a new age in astronomy.
Webb then began to unfold the massive sunshield four days later.
Now it is more than halfway to Lagrange Point 2 (L2), an area of balanced gravity between the sun and the Earth, where it will spend more than a decade exploring the universe in infrared.
WHAT IS THE JAMES WEBB TELESCOPE?
James Webb telescope is described as “a time machine”, which could be used to unravel the mysteries of the universe.
This telescope can be used to view back at the very first galaxies that were born more than 13.5 million years ago in the early universe, as well as to observe the origins of stars and exoplanets.
The vast telescope, which has already cost more than $7 billion (£5 billion), is considered a successor to the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope
The James Webb Telescope and most of its instruments have an operating temperature of roughly 40 Kelvin – about minus 387 Fahrenheit (minus 233 Celsius).
Officials say the cost may exceed the $8 billion (£5.6 billion) program cap set by Congress. The space agency has already poured $7 billion (£5 billion) into the telescope.
It will launch in 2021 and be the largest telescope on the planet, capable of looking back to 200 million years from the Big Bang.