Webb is absolutely unfolding for the final time on earth. The subsequent time can be in house

The main mirror of the long-awaited James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) was opened for the last time on Earth prior to the launch of the observatory, which is currently slated for October 31, 2021.

During some of the final checkouts before the telescope goes into space, the engineers ordered the 18 hexagonal mirrors to fully expand and lock, just as they will once the Webb telescope reaches its destination in space.

“In the past few months, we’ve completed nearly all of our environmental testing-related deployments,” said Bill Ochs, project manager for JWST at NASA, during a media briefing this week. “This includes things like the mirror, the solar system and the very complex and challenging final successful use of the sun protection, which has now been folded up again and is now finally stowed away.”

Ochs said the engineering and science teams also completed the final ground segment tests, during which they commanded the observatory from the telescope’s mission operations center at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland.

In order to provide, operate and bring the golden mirrors into focus, 132 complex actuators and motors as well as complex backend software are required to support them. Proper use in space is vital for the individual mirrors to work as a functional and massive reflector

However, its use on Earth involves supporting the mirror plates of a crane in a way that simulates the zero gravity environment in space.

The process of deploying, sliding, expanding, and unfolding all of Webb’s many moving parts after exposing them to a simulated launch is the best way to ensure that once in space they will function as intended. Credits: NASA / Chris Gunn

“We have this mirror as effectively as in space,” said Scott Willoughby, Northrop Grumman program manager. “We designed the mirror wings to work in space, but we have to test them on the ground – and gravity can be pretty humble.”

Once the wings are fully extended and attached, extremely precise actuators on the back of the mirrors position and bend or bend each mirror into a specific “recipe”. The testing of each actuator and its expected movements was completed in a final functional test earlier this year.

“We’re about to ship and launch,” said Greg Robinson, program director for JWST at NASA’s science mission directorate. “Last year – this year of a pandemic – our employees learned to live and work together in a way we never imagined. But we kept everything moving … and now we just do all these “bars” – the last tests, the last missions we will ever do on earth, the last stowage. “

The plan is to put JWST in a large air-conditioned shipping container and ship it from the Northrup Grumman facility in California to the European missile facility in Kourou, French Guiana. The trip takes approximately two weeks and includes the passage through the Panama Canal.

The Ariane5 starts in Kourou in French Guiana. Image: ESA / Arianespace.

JWST is launched on board an Ariane 5 rocket. However, the normally reliable Ariane 5 had problems with “less than fully nominal fairing separation” on two previous launches. The missile was grounded for months to solve the problem. With two more launches in the manifest ahead of JWST, this issue could potentially delay the high-profile space telescope launch in October, but possibly only for a couple of weeks.

“You are in the process of preparing the missile for its upcoming launch, the first of the three,” said Robinson. “Once they start, we can start in about four months after that.”

However, Robinson ended up telling NASA and Northrup Grumman that everything is going well and they have no problems.

“At the moment we are not working on mortgages,” he said. “We’re approaching the goal line and just have to pass it. We’re in a really good place but still have a few reviews to move on to the next steps. “

Further reading: NASA, Space News, Webb Media Day presentation

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