We can all exhale a sigh of relief. The major components of the James Webb Space Telescope are now deployed, and it continues to calmly make its way to its destination.
The deployment marks a pretty important milestone for the joint NASA, CSA and the European Space Agency mission. The largest mirror ever sent to space is set to change space science with an unprecedented view of the universe.
NASA achieved another engineering milestone. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said that he joined the team in breathing a little easier and imagining the future breakthrough that will inspire the world.
The James Webb Space Telescope is on the verge of seeing the light from the first galaxies and discovering the mysteries of our Universe. Thousands of innovators poured their life's passion into this mission and each feat already achieved and future accomplishment is a testament to them.
50 major deployment, complete.178 pins, and 20 years of work have been realized with the successful deployment of NASAWebb.
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Next to UnfoldTheUniverse, we are traveling to our orbital destination of Lagrange point 2!
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January 8, 2022.
The new home of the Webb is 1.5 million kilometers from Earth in a region called a Lagrange point.
This is where the combined forces of Earth and the Sun create a small area of stability.
The second Lagrange point is where the two-body system will be located on the far side of Earth from the Sun. The person is expected to arrive at L2 by the end of January.
As it travels, scientists on Earth will start issuing commands to get ready for the science to come. The mid-course correction will be initiated towards the end of the first month in space for Webb.
NASA and M. Clampin.
The Fine Guidance Sensor, near-infrared camera, and near-infrared spectrograph will be turned on after Webb arrives at L2.
It will be time to fix the mirror. It will take several months to subtly flex and bend each segment in the 126 extremely precise actuators behind the gold-coated mirror.
The team takes great pains to make sure that the system works as it should. Sometime in June 2022, the science operations should start.
My daughter made me a pound cake to celebrate the full mirror deployment.
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January 9, 2022, by Dr. HEIDI B.HAMMEL.
I'm ready to unfold the universe with my crocheted mirror.
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Sophia Gad-Nasr is a Astropartigirl.
We can all take a moment to celebrate the tremendous achievement of getting the observatory successfully into space and fully deployed, given the difficulties that plagued the project since its inception in 1996.
The completion of all of the telescope's deployment is historic according to the program director.
"This is the first time a NASA-led mission has ever attempted to complete a complex sequence to unfold an observatory in space, a remarkable feat for our team, NASA, and the world."
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