![\"\"](\"https:\/\/smashomash.com\/smashteam\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Webb-Sunshield-Deployment-Animation.gif\")
TOPICS:James Webb Space Telescope<\/a>NASA<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n By\u00a0NASA\u00a0DECEMBER 31, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Credit: NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab<\/p>\n\n\n\n With the successful extension of Webb\u2019s second sunshield mid-boom, the observatory has passed another critical deployment milestone. Webb\u2019s sunshield now resembles its full, kite-shaped form in space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Engineers began to deploy the second (starboard) mid-boom at 6:31 p.m. EST and completed the process at about 10:13 p.m. EST.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The completion of the sunshield cover and mid-boom deployments over the past two days marks a critical milestone for Webb: all\u00a0107 membrane release devices<\/a>\u00a0associated with the sunshield deployment \u2014 every single one of which had to work in order for the sunshield to deploy \u2014 have now successfully released. Webb has 178 of these \u2018non-explosive actuators\u2019 in all; 107 were used to keep the sunshield safe and folded prior to deployment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As the mid-booms slowly pushed out horizontally from the spacecraft, each driven by a motor, they pulled the folded membranes of the sunshield with them. This extended the sunshield to its full 47-foot width all the way across the observatory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe mid-booms are the sunshield\u2019s workhorse and do the heavy lifting to unfold and pull the membranes into that now-iconic shape,\u201d said Keith Parrish, Webb observatory manager at\u00a0NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While the deployments took longer than expected today, that was due to the\u00a0operations team moving forward with caution<\/a>\u00a0and according to the protocols they laid out for dealing with unpredictable situations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cToday is an example of why we continue to say that we don\u2019t think our deployment schedule might change, but that we\u00a0expect\u00a0<\/em>it to change,\u201d Parrish said. \u201cThe team did what we had rehearsed for this kind of situation \u2013 stop, assess, and move forward methodically with a plan. We still have a long way to go with this whole deployment process.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The two mid-boom arms are now locked in their final position. They will hold the sunshield membranes in their proper place, as the team turns to the final stage in the sunshield\u2019s deployment: tensioning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the coming days, the team will separate and then individually tension each of the five sunshield layers, stretching them into their final, taut shape. This will create space between the membranes to allow heat to radiate out, making each successive layer of the sunshield cooler than the one below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Webb\u2019s engineers will begin with the bottom layer \u2013 the largest and flattest layer, which is closest to the Sun and will reach the highest temperatures. They will proceed sequentially to the fifth and smallest layer, closest to the primary mirror. Tensioning the layers involves sending commands to activate several motors to reel in a total of 90 cables through numerous pulleys and cable management devices. Sunshield tensioning will take at least two days but may take longer, due to the complexity of the process and the flexibility built into the\u00a0timeline<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s on its way to Lagrangian Point 2, placing it in Earth\u2019s shadow. This minimizes its temperature, which will allow it to take infrared imagery in extraordinary detail. We should see some inner workings of complex systems which were previously not visible. Webb Space Telescope Passes Critical Deployment Milestone: Sunshield Takes Shape TOPICS:James Webb Space … Read moreJames Webb Space Telescope<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"pmpro_default_level":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","pmpro-has-access"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smashomash.com\/smashteam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smashomash.com\/smashteam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smashomash.com\/smashteam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smashomash.com\/smashteam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smashomash.com\/smashteam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2687"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/smashomash.com\/smashteam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2687\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smashomash.com\/smashteam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smashomash.com\/smashteam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smashomash.com\/smashteam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\nCredit: NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab<\/p>\n\n\n\nWith the successful extension of Webb\u2019s second sunshield mid-boom, the observatory has passed another critical deployment milestone. Webb\u2019s sunshield now resembles its full, kite-shaped form in space.<\/p>\n\n\n\nEngineers began to deploy the second (starboard) mid-boom at 6:31 p.m. EST and completed the process at about 10:13 p.m. EST.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe completion of the sunshield cover and mid-boom deployments over the past two days marks a critical milestone for Webb: all\u00a0107 membrane release devices<\/a>\u00a0associated with the sunshield deployment \u2014 every single one of which had to work in order for the sunshield to deploy \u2014 have now successfully released. Webb has 178 of these \u2018non-explosive actuators\u2019 in all; 107 were used to keep the sunshield safe and folded prior to deployment.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAs the mid-booms slowly pushed out horizontally from the spacecraft, each driven by a motor, they pulled the folded membranes of the sunshield with them. This extended the sunshield to its full 47-foot width all the way across the observatory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cThe mid-booms are the sunshield\u2019s workhorse and do the heavy lifting to unfold and pull the membranes into that now-iconic shape,\u201d said Keith Parrish, Webb observatory manager at\u00a0NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhile the deployments took longer than expected today, that was due to the\u00a0operations team moving forward with caution<\/a>\u00a0and according to the protocols they laid out for dealing with unpredictable situations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cToday is an example of why we continue to say that we don\u2019t think our deployment schedule might change, but that we\u00a0expect\u00a0<\/em>it to change,\u201d Parrish said. \u201cThe team did what we had rehearsed for this kind of situation \u2013 stop, assess, and move forward methodically with a plan. We still have a long way to go with this whole deployment process.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe two mid-boom arms are now locked in their final position. They will hold the sunshield membranes in their proper place, as the team turns to the final stage in the sunshield\u2019s deployment: tensioning.<\/p>\n\n\n\nIn the coming days, the team will separate and then individually tension each of the five sunshield layers, stretching them into their final, taut shape. This will create space between the membranes to allow heat to radiate out, making each successive layer of the sunshield cooler than the one below.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWebb\u2019s engineers will begin with the bottom layer \u2013 the largest and flattest layer, which is closest to the Sun and will reach the highest temperatures. They will proceed sequentially to the fifth and smallest layer, closest to the primary mirror. Tensioning the layers involves sending commands to activate several motors to reel in a total of 90 cables through numerous pulleys and cable management devices. Sunshield tensioning will take at least two days but may take longer, due to the complexity of the process and the flexibility built into the\u00a0timeline<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s on its way to Lagrangian Point 2, placing it in Earth\u2019s shadow. This minimizes its temperature, which will allow it to take infrared imagery in extraordinary detail. We should see some inner workings of complex systems which were previously not visible. Webb Space Telescope Passes Critical Deployment Milestone: Sunshield Takes Shape TOPICS:James Webb Space … Read moreJames Webb Space Telescope<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"pmpro_default_level":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","pmpro-has-access"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smashomash.com\/smashteam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smashomash.com\/smashteam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smashomash.com\/smashteam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smashomash.com\/smashteam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smashomash.com\/smashteam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2687"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/smashomash.com\/smashteam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2687\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smashomash.com\/smashteam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smashomash.com\/smashteam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smashomash.com\/smashteam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"https:\/\/scitechdaily.com\/images\/Webb-Sunshield-Deployment-Animation.gif\"){kind=link}