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NASA Webb Telescope

8 Jan, 11 tweets, 7 min read

We are GO for #NASAWebb’s final mirror wing deployment this morning! Here’s what you should expect:

🔲 Fire pins to release mirror wing
🔲 Unfold mirror
🔲 Latch the wing (2+ hours) ⏱
🔲 🥳🕺🏽🎉
🔲 #UnfoldTheUniverse! (5+ months) ✨
More: go.nasa.gov/3G8Bc1P

✅ Click! We just fired the last 4 of #NASAWebb's 178 release mechanisms, or pins — all of which had to work perfectly for this unfolding to take place. These 4 will release the restraints that held Webb's mirror wing safely in place during launch. #UnfoldTheUniverse

@SpaceTelescope

🚗 Folks, start your engines!

As the #NASAWebb team gets ready to deploy the second primary mirror wing from @SpaceTelescope, they just completed a small motor checkout movement, ensuring the wing is ready to go. #UnfoldTheUniverse

@SpaceTelescope

Thanks to our mission control team at @SpaceTelescope, the second primary wing is now moving into place. #NASAWebb's honeycomb mirror will soon take on its iconic shape! ⬢ #UnfoldTheUniverse

@SpaceTelescope

✅ The final wing is now deployed! Before we celebrate, we’ve still got work to do. The team is working hard at @SpaceTelescope to latch the wing into place, a multi-hour process. When the final latch is secure, #NASAWebb will be fully unfolded in space. #UnfoldTheUniverse

📺 We’ll be right back with more commentary soon!

While we wait, head out into the lobby and grab your popcorn and soda. 🍿

And we're back!

As a reminder: latching Webb's final wing will take 2+ hours. Sometimes, science can feel slow, but slow and steady is how we #UnfoldTheUniverse! Our team is meticulously & remotely latching the mirror into place. Gotta latch ‘em all!

As we just heard our Webb optics manager Lee Feinberg explain on our live broadcast, Webb's mirrors did a *lot* of traveling before they made it to space!

🔎 Take a look: jwst.nasa.gov/content/featur…

👋 We agree with Julie — you can come from any field to help #UnfoldTheUniverse!
-the social media team 💛

We’re getting ready for the very last move command! You know what they say: don’t count your mirror wings before they latch.

https://twitter.com/NASAWebb/status/1479880178021060609?s=20

✅ #NASAWebb is ready for its next steps! After it reaches Lagrange point 2, it will take ~5 months to cool down, align its mirrors & calibrate its instruments before the science begins: nasa.gov/press-release/… #UnfoldTheUniverse

https://twitter.com/NASAWebb/status/1479880178021060609?s=20

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More from @NASAWebb

NASA Webb Telescope

@NASAWebb

10 Jan

❄️ Now that our deployments are complete, just like our telescope, we’re entering a period of cooldown. Our updates will be less frequent, but that doesn’t mean things have stopped happening: blogs.nasa.gov/webb/2022/01/1…

Thread ⬇️

https://twitter.com/NASAWebb/status/1476259866310320137?s=20

First, what do we mean by “cooldown”? If you’ve been checking the temperatures of our “cold side” at webb.nasa.gov/whereiswebb, you can see we’re still a ways off from our operating temperatures of less than 50 Kelvin (about -370° F, or -223° C).

https://twitter.com/NASAWebb/status/1476259866310320137?s=20

The deployment of our sunshield helped a lot with quickly lowering the temperatures on the cold side, but further cooling down will take place more slowly over time. The sunshield helps to passively cool Webb, meaning the optics get cold solely by being in the shade. 🌡

Read 8 tweets

NASA Webb Telescope

@NASAWebb

6 Jan

We've been hearing you loud and clear: Why doesn't Webb have cameras for its journey to #UnfoldTheUniverse? It sounds like a no-brainer, but there's more to it than meets the lens. Thread ⬇️

1. Light 💡

Our gold-coated mirrors were photogenic on Earth, but the mirror side of Webb is pitch dark in space. Meanwhile, the other, Sun-facing side of Webb is so shiny that cameras there would have glare & contrast issues.

2. Power 🔌

We would have to run cables and power out to cameras on Webb, and the power balance on the cold side of Webb is especially delicate. More cables adds more of a threat of heat and vibration transfer through the wires, which could impact image quality.

Read 7 tweets

NASA Webb Telescope

@NASAWebb

4 Jan

Can you feel the tension? Webb is feeling it...in a good way! We tensioned 3 of 5 sunshield layers yesterday. Today we start with Layer 4: blogs.nasa.gov/webb/2022/01/0…

Follow along LIVE for the final layer starting ~9:30 am ET (14:30 UTC): nasa.gov/live #UnfoldTheUniverse

We just tensioned #NASAWebb’s sunshield some more, that was Layer 4. Now everybody look alive, it’s time to tension Layer 5! And better yet — keep watching along live: nasa.gov/live #UnfoldTheUniverse

If you’re tuned in to our live broadcast, now’s the perfect time to go grab a drink of water! Coverage resumes at 11:30 am ET (16:30 UTC) for the tensioning of Webb’s fifth and final sunshield layer 🤩

More on our sunshield: jwst.nasa.gov/content/observ… #UnfoldTheUniverse

Read 4 tweets

NASA Webb Telescope

@NASAWebb

1 Jan

We successfully deployed #NASAWebb’s port sunshield mid-boom, which pulls out our 5 sunshield layers. While scheduled for earlier today, our team paused to confirm the sunshield cover had fully rolled up: go.nasa.gov/3pL07Tn #UnfoldTheUniverse

Thread ⬇️

When switches did not trigger to indicate the sunshield covers were rolled up, team members used temperature data & gyroscope sensors to confirm that they had. This analysis took extra time, but allowed the team to move forward. #UnfoldTheUniverse

The deployment of the 5 telescoping segments of the mid-boom began around 1:30pm ET and reached full deployment at 4:49pm.

Webb's deployment steps are all human-controlled, so the schedule can change. The team plans to deploy the starboard mid-boom tonight. #UnfoldTheUniverse

Read 4 tweets

NASA Webb Telescope

@NASAWebb

27 Dec 21

Ooh, sick burn! 🔥

In this case, we’re not talking about insults, but a burn of fuel to adjust #NASAWebb’s trajectory on its million mile (1.5 million km) journey to #UnfoldTheUniverse. #ICYMI, Webb had its first mid-course correction burn Dec. 25: go.nasa.gov/32uctX1

So far, the post-launch journey has been smooth sailing. Burns are scheduled to leave as much remaining fuel as possible for #NASAWebb’s ordinary operations over its lifetime, like small adjustments to keep Webb in its desired orbit once it arrives. #UnfoldTheUniverse

One interesting aspect of the #NASAWebb launch and its burns is that we always "aim a little bit low." Webb's thrusters can only push Webb away from the Sun, not back toward the Sun (and Earth). We designed launch and these burns to always avoid drifting away.

Read 4 tweets

NASA Webb Telescope

@NASAWebb

22 Dec 21

Ahead of our launch, we asked you to show us what you believe #NASAWebb will reveal through art. Here are just some of submissions we received for our #UnfoldTheUniverse art challenge! Keep them coming! Special thanks to all of our participants. More info: go.nasa.gov/unfoldtheunive…

@NASAGoddard

Our gallery of #UnfoldTheUniverse submissions: webb.nasa.gov/content/featur…

Credits: @NASAGoddard/ Madison Dean, Lead Producer and Editor

Host: @kelliegerardi with Delta V.

Artists featured in this video:
Mason Cortez
Sreshta Velamuri
Jon Young
Galina Ivanova
Mashal
Collin Cochran
Thessaly Dunn
Jaden Berkley
Noelle Lui
Siddharth Sajith Nair
Shelina Swastika Kumar
Elena Schwer
Mansi Ashtamkar
Reyansh Sunwar
Jedidiah Dore
(1/2)

Read 4 tweets

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