James Webb's sunshield extended to its full 47-foot width

[Judi Lynn]

1. NASA delays tightening James Webb Space Telescope sunshield to study power system

By Meghan Bartels published about 4 hours ago



A graphic depicts the James Webb Space Telescope with its sunshield unfurled. (Image credit: NASA)

NASA personnel are spending the day studying the power subsystem of the massive James Webb Space Telescope to ensure the observatory is ready to execute a key procedure: tensioning its vast sunshield.

The Webb space telescope, which launched on Dec. 25, is conducting a month-long deployment procedure necessary to prepare the telescope to gather data. But most steps in that procedure are controlled from the ground: While NASA has a tentative schedule for the work, mission leaders can decide to adjust the timeline along the way. So after taking Saturday (Jan. 1) as a rest day, the Webb team is spending Sunday (Jan. 2) studying the observatory's power subsystem, NASA announced.

"Nothing we can learn from simulations on the ground is as good as analyzing the observatory when it's up and running," Bill Ochs, Webb project manager at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in Maryland, said in an agency statement released Sunday (Jan. 2). "Now is the time to take the opportunity to learn everything we can about its baseline operations. Then we will take the next steps."

In particular, the team is focused on the temperature of a set of motors that will be used during sunshield tensioning, the process that separates and smooths the five delicate layers of the kite-shaped sun deflector. (Webb specializes in infrared observations, which are sensitive to heat, making the sunshield a vital component of the observatory.)

More:
https://www.space.com/james-webb-space-telescope-sunshield-tension-delay