Webb deployment resumes, with continuing success
After a day delay to assess the telescope’s earlier operation in space, engineers yesterday resumed the deployment of the James Webb Space Telescope’s sun shield.
First they began tensioning the shield’s first of five layers, completing that operation in about five and a half hours.
Next the engineers proceeded to tighten layers two and three, completing that task in about three hours.
Today they have begun tightening the last two layers. A live stream of this slow and relatively unexciting process (as long as nothing goes wrong) is available from NASA here.
Based on what has been done so far, it appears that the deployment of the sun shield, considered the most challenging part of Webb’s deployment, is going to complete successfully. While the unfolding and deployment of the mirror still must be done, getting the sun shield deployed eliminates one of the great concerns that has kept both astronomers and engineers awake nights for decades.
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After a day delay to assess the telescope’s earlier operation in space, engineers yesterday resumed the deployment of the James Webb Space Telescope’s sun shield.
First they began tensioning the shield’s first of five layers, completing that operation in about five and a half hours.
Next the engineers proceeded to tighten layers two and three, completing that task in about three hours.
Today they have begun tightening the last two layers. A live stream of this slow and relatively unexciting process (as long as nothing goes wrong) is available from NASA here.
Based on what has been done so far, it appears that the deployment of the sun shield, considered the most challenging part of Webb’s deployment, is going to complete successfully. While the unfolding and deployment of the mirror still must be done, getting the sun shield deployed eliminates one of the great concerns that has kept both astronomers and engineers awake nights for decades.
Readers!
Every February I run a fund-raising drive during my birthday month. This year I celebrate my 72nd birthday, and hope and plan to continue writing and posting on Behind the Black for as long as I am able.
I hope my readers will support this effort. As I did in my November fund-raising drive, I am offering autographed copies of my books for large donations. Donate $250 and you can have a choice of the hardback of either Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8 or Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space. Donate $200 and you can get an autographed paperback copy of either. IMPORTANT! If you donate enough to get a book, please email me separately to tell me which book you want and the address to mail it to.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Real astronomers are always awake at night ;-)
In the realm of space based astronomy, night and day no longer matter. The Observatory is forever in a sea of darkness.
If this thing screws up, is there any way to have a rescue mission to fix it? I am not as up on space as most of you and I have no idea if they can stop this thing before it gets to close to the sun for humans and then resume it towards its target.
Jhon B
No, sadly. The Observatory is on its way to a very distant position, much farther than the Space Station or Hubble.
The eventual destination is in orbit around L2 point, opposite side side of the moon, plus some.
There would be insufficient fuel to stop, even if there was, it would require more fuel to go again. There is much more, like the lack of means to carry out such a repair.
Think of the WST as just another in a long line of largely successful planetary probes like the current fleet of Mars orbiters / rovers, Juno, and the New Horizons Pluto mission. In this case, in addition to conducting cosmological investigations, it will be probing exoplantes, lol. Like its far flung, planet-visiting companions — at least at present — it simply will be too far away to repair, so it has been designed (at great time and expense) to be as robust and resilient as possible. Godspeed, WST.