James Webb Space Telescope Deployment Completed, NASA: Amazing Milestone

On January 8, the main mirror of the James Weber telescope for infrared observation jointly developed by NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) was fully launched in space. The two-week deployment is officially complete, and the James Webb telescope is ready to begin an exploration of the origin of the universe.

According to Agence France-Presse reported on the 8th, after the message that the last flank of the main mirror wing of the James Webb space telescope was confirmed to be deployed was sent back, the engineering team in the control room erupted into enthusiastic cheers. Thomas Zulbuken, a senior NASA engineer, said at a live event of the celebration of stargazers around the world, "I am thrilled, this is an amazing milestone. ”

Because the James Webb telescope is too large, it must be folded to fit into the launch vehicle, and then launched into space, and the work carried out is extremely complex and risky. NASA engineer Mike Monzel said this could be the most challenging deployment plan NASA has ever had.

The mirror was locked in space at 1:17 p.m. local time in the United States, and NASA announced that all important deployments had been successfully completed.

The Weber Telescope, which succeeded the Hubble Space Telescope in continuing its exploration of space, launched from the ESA's base in Kourou, French Guiana, after loading it into the cargo hold of the Ariane 5 rocket on December 25 last year.

According to The New York Times, the James Webb Telescope was named after the early NASA director of the Apollo program. Compared to the Hubble Space Telescope, which people once boasted, it can see farther into space and earlier times. Its main condenser is about 6.4 meters wide, about three times as wide as Hubble, and seven times more sensitive.

Weber's mission is to search for the earliest and most distant stars and galaxies that emerged 13.7 billion years ago, from the dust haze after the Big Bang (which occurred 13.8 billion years ago).