NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has safely arrived at the French Guiana launch site off the northeast coast of South America
The Weber Telescope is currently located in a clean space room, and pollution control technicians want to ensure that the observatory remains clean and pollution-free during the final stages of the 5,800-mile journey. Engineers conducted a final electrical and functional test and checked the stored mechanical configuration to ensure smooth delivery. Next, the Weber telescope will be mounted on the Ariane V rocket. At this point, it will be ready for launch from the European spaceport (also known as the Guyana Space Center).
The launch of the Weber telescope will be a pivotal moment for NASA, but this is only the beginning, and the 29 days after the launch are truly exciting but thrilling moments, with thousands of parts having to work correctly in sequence to unfold the telescope into its final form and send it to a destination nearly a million miles away.
Exciting 29 days:
Twenty-eight minutes after the rocket lifts off, the Webb telescope will detach from the rocket, and from that point on, the ground team will be in full control to begin the most complex deployment sequence of a space mission.
The first deployment is an expansion of the solar array, which will take place 31 to 33 minutes after liftoff, by providing nearly 2 kilowatts of electricity to power the spacecraft's electrical systems and avionics, thereby reducing the consumption of the observatory's internal batteries. To enable the highest data rate terrestrial communications over NASA's deep space network, the high-gain antenna platform will be deployed in two hours.
Packaged James Webb Space Telescope
12.5 hours after launch, the Webb telescope will deploy the thrusters, performing the first of several key route corrections, and advance towards its final destination. The observatory will pass through the moon two and a half days after launch, which is faster than when the Apollo manned spacecraft reaches lunar orbit.
On the third day after entering space, the Webb telescope will undergo its first large-scale deployment, the sunscreen frame of the tray structure will be opened, and the whole process is expected to take five hours. On day 4, the mirror and instrument of the telescope will be separated from the main body of the spacecraft, which can effectively reduce the vibration of the mirror. On day 5, the deployment of solar shield film began, and deployment is expected to be completed on days 8 to 9.
Next, a new window into NASA's observation of the universe is about to open, and the telescope is expected to complete the deployment of the secondary mirror in two hours. On the 10th day of liftoff, the auxiliary mirror is unfolded, and this smaller circular mirror will play an important role in collecting light from Weber's 18-sided primary mirror into a focused beam. The main mirror deployment is scheduled to begin on day 12 and is scheduled to end on day 25. In the months that followed, the Weber telescope also had to fine-tune its mirror.
On day 29, the telescope will start the thruster again and enter a predetermined orbit at the second Lagrange point (l2), nearly 1 million miles from Earth, officially ending the most difficult and complex deployment sequence in space.