The deep space-bound James Webb Space Telescope, launched by NASA on Dec. 24, must readapt to the cosmic unknown as it hurtles further along its journey. Aptly coined the "Transformer Telescope" via Amy Lo, an alignments engineer under Northrop Grumman, the James Webb Space Telescope must continuously undergo choreographic hurdles as it delves deeper into the cosmos.
Tuesday, Dec. 28, marks a brilliant step in its juncture, wherein the JWST successfully deployed its Forward Unitized Pallet Structure (UPS), which is connected to its sunshield. Although it may sound relatively unremarkable on the surface, the entire systematic effort took up to four hours, and it must still perform a similar feat with its Aft UPS later into the voyage.
Preparations for the sunshield will take in total nearly five whole days to complete and must be finished accordingly to protect the JWST and its expensive internal equipment from dangerous radiation emitted from the sun.
By January 3, 2022, the JWST's primary UPS structures should be fully extended, yet there's still the Deployable Tower Assembly that must be unfurled, as well. This will allow the sunshield to be maneuvered out over the telescope in due time.
Lo tells The Verge, "Unfurling a primary mirror has never been done before on orbit in space."
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It's a necessity, however, as the massive telescope was unfit to make the voyage in its final state as even the largest of rockets on the building block couldn't keep it contained. Measuring at a whopping 18 feet wide, the Ariane 5 rocket still couldn't meet the requirements, so NASA was forced to condense the JWST into an unfurling dance across the edge of the planet.
Upon finalized choreographic sequences, the JWST will embark on an orbit around Earth-sun Legrange point 2, 930,000 miles away from Earth.
The James Webb Space Telescope cost a whopping $10 billion and vies to uncover some of the most intricate realms of the universe, studying some of these very initial galaxies, still unclassified events, and atmospheric readings of exoplanets that could potentially hold life. The telescope is a completely newfound science utilizing infrared light at extremely cold temperatures to peer deep into the soundless abyss.
James Webb to Replace the Hubble?
Although extremely overachieving in nature, it still stands to reason if the James Webb Space Telescope can replace the Hubble in its mission, but time will only tell. Time, however, has been on its side, with its over 20 long years of development. Built with assistance from the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), the JWST intends to be a remarkable push in cosmological and astronomical insight.
The journey and lengthy execution of the JWST process have only just begun, yet it's still a momentous step in scientific and technological development.
