The deployment of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is nearing an end. The image is from NASA.
Another milestone has been achieved by NASA's massive new observatory.
After nearly a month in space, the James Webb Space Telescope is almost done with its deployment work. The telescope has undergone a series of deployment that has made it look like a real observatory.
"Just in from the NASAWebb team, all 18 primary mirror segments and the secondary mirror are now fully deployed!" Bill Nelson is the Administrator of NASA. Thanks to the teams that have been working hard since launch to get to this point. L2 will soon be the new home of Webb.
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope mission is live.
There are pictures of the James Webb Space Telescope.
The golden primary mirror at JWST has 18 hexagonal segments that are controlled by seven actuators. The 18 segments are in their deployed positions several days sooner than planned.
The work on the mirror segments was expected to take 10 days. The mirror segments aren't ready to be observed yet. NASA needs to fine- tune every mirror's position to turn 18 individual views of the universe into one large mirror.
The entire mirror process is expected to take about three months.
The trajectory burn will insert the observatory into a spot in space called the Earth-sun Lagrange point 2, or L2. L2 is located on the side of the planet opposite the sun.
The final arrival maneuver is expected to be completed on Sunday.
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