The primary mirror of the James Webb Space Telescope can be seen here. NASA/Chris Gunn
We can take a deep breath before the next deployment of the James Webb Space Telescope.
The most complex and tricky operation of the $10 billion observatory's lengthy deployment phase was completed on Tuesday.
The mission team will now be able to focus on getting the telescope's secondary and primary mirrors into the proper configuration. It will take a while to check those boxes.
The James Webb Space Telescope is being built.
Alphonso Stewart, the lead for the James Webb Space Telescope deployment systems at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, said during a news conference on Tuesday that they would probably start that process by this weekend. It runs for about 10 days. A 10-day period is the length of the mirror deployment.
The primary mirror is 21.3-foot-wide and consists of 18 hexagonal segments arrayed across a central platform. The assembly of the Ariane 5 rocket could fit inside the protective fairing of these wings. The sun shield is about the size of a tennis court and had to be unfurled after liftoff. Extending the wings of the primary mirror requires locking them in place.
The second mirror of the telescope is named after it because it will hit the science instruments. The mirror is at the end of several booms and must be extended.
The first mirror will be deployed. The team plans to get the ball rolling on it very soon, even though it's still a few days away.
Stewart said during Tuesday's news conference that they would start heating the motors that deploy the secondary mirror structure tonight. The next two days will be when we'll start heating motor parts to prepare for the wing mirror deployment.
Since the observatory's launch, the mission team members have stressed that most deployment operations are flexible, so don't be alarmed if there are some deviations from the timetable.
The work that is done with the Webb is very challenging and requires its instruments to remain extremely cold. That's why the observatory has a big sun shield and why it will operate at the Earth-sun Lagrange Point 2. The sun shield at L2 will allow it to block light and heat from Earth, the sun and the moon.
The telescope will slip into space around L2 with an engine burn 29 days after launch. All major deployment will be complete at that point. The observatory won't be ready to start work until later.
The 18 primary mirror segments need to be aligned precisely so they can act as a single light-collecting surface. These jobs will take a long time to complete. Science operations are expected to last at least five years.
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