NASA’s Webb sunshield is successfully expanding and tightening in final tests

Expanded to the size of a tennis court, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s quadrilateral solar passed a final series of large-scale use and compression tests. This milestone puts the observatory one step closer to its launch in 2021.

“This is one of the biggest achievements Webb has made in 2020,” said Alphonso Stewart, Webb’s use systems management for NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “We were able to synchronize the uncomplicated movement in a very slow and controlled manner and maintain its shape resembling a kite, indicating that it is ready to perform these tasks in space.”

Sunlight protects the telescope and reflects backlight and heat from the Sun, Earth and Moon into space. The observatory must be kept cool to achieve modern science in infrared light, which is invisible to human eyes and which is felt as heat.

In the shadow of a sunshield, Webb’s innovative technologies and sensitive infrared sensors allow scientists to see galaxies at a distance and study many other interesting things in the universe.

Maintaining the shape of the sun involves a delicate, complex process.

“Congratulations to the entire team. Due to Webb’s large size and tight performance requirements, the deployment is very complex. In addition to the required technical knowledge, this set of tests required a detailed, determined design, patience and open communication. That team has proven these qualities. It’s amazing to think that the next time Webb’s sunshield is used it will be thousands of miles away, hurting through space, “he said. James Cooper, Webb’s sunshield manager at Goddard.

The polymer-coated Kapton® organs of Webb sunshield were fully utilized and tightened in December at Northrop Grumman in Redondo Beach, California. Northrop Grumman designed the observatory’s solar view for NASA.

During testing, engineers issued a series of commands to spacecraft hardware that fitted 139 actuators, eight motors, and thousands of other components to extend and extend the five members of sunlight. to its last tight shape. A challenging part of the test is the exposure of the sun in the Earth’s gravitational environment, which causes friction, unlike material that opens out into space without the effect of gravity.

For launch the sunshield will be wrapped around two sides of the observatory and placed in the Ariane 5 launch vehicle, which is provided by the European Space Agency.

In this test, two suitcase structures that hold the sunshield directly folded down, then two large “arms” (called the Mid-Boom Assembly) of sunlight slowly telescope out, which ‘the folded limbs were pulled together with them to resemble the synchronous movements of a dance with a very slow dance. Once the locked arms were in a horizontal position, the solar organs were successfully tightened starting with the lower extremity, separating each into their fully used shape.

The large sunshield divides the observatory into a warm side, a solar face (around 185 degrees Fahrenheit) and a cold front side (minus 388 degrees Fahrenheit) made up of the optics and scientific instruments. The sunshield protects the observatory’s optics and sensors, so they’ll be at very cold temperatures for science to do.

“This milestone shows that Webb is well on its way to being ready for launch. Our engineers and technicians achieved remarkable test progress this month, reducing risk. great for the project by completing these milestones for launch next year, “said Bill Ochs, project manager. for Webb at Goddard. “The team is now preparing for a final post-environment use test on the observatory in the next month or two before it is sent to the launch site next summer.”

Webb has undergone other hardware deployment experiments during its development, discovery and successful resolution of technical issues with the spacecraft. These tests confirm that the observatory and its many redundant systems will work uninterrupted once in orbit.

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The James Webb Space Telescope will be the world’s leading space science observatory when it launches in 2021. Webb will unravel mysteries in our solar system, looking further afield into a distant world other stars, and exploring the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and place. innte. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and the Canadian Space Agency.