If you felt a little more tension in the Universe today, it is probably because of the successful deployment of the James Webb Space Telescope sun shield. The final taut, kite-shaped configuration of the sun shield has all five layers extended andtensioned. This is huge relief for the entire international mission.
After the sun shield was confirmed, the mission operations manager said that this was a big moment for the entire team. There is nothing cooler in space than JWST.
The events in the Mission Operations Center at the Space Telescope Science Institute were streamed by NASA. The conversations on the communications loop gave an inside look at the intricate operation taking place remotely, thousands of kilometers away from Earth.
The sun shield deployment is one of the most difficult parts of deployment. The team is overjoyed.
The sun shield deployment confirmation came 10 days after the JWST left Earth. The fifth and final layer of the sunshade was pulled taut because the telescope was more than one million km away.
There is a live video of the final tensioning of the sun shield.
The tensioning phase of sun shield deployment is particularly challenging because of the complex interactions between the structures, the tensioning mechanisms, the cables and the membranes. It was the hardest part to test on the ground, so it feels great to have everything go well today.
The total height of the sun shield is about 6 feet, but the size varies between different spots.
The first three layers were tensioned yesterday. They originally planned to do just one layer, but decided to keep going. The tensioning process for the first three layers took over five and a half hours.
