Two weeks after takeoff, the James Webb telescope is fully deployed. A real success by NASA. "Two weeks after the launch, NASA has taken another important step: the deployment of mirrors is complete and the new generation telescope has taken its final form," NASA said in a tweet on Saturday. “Next step for Webb? Five months of alignment and calibration before starting to obtain images ”, specified the American space agency. The telescope's iconic main mirror measures around 6.5 meters in diameter, so it was too large to fit into a rocket when it took off two weeks ago. Its two sides had thus been folded up. The first of these two wings was deployed on Friday, and the second opened on Saturday morning, as planned,NASA announced. The space agency teams continued to lock it in place, however, in order to secure it permanently.
Two weeks after launch, @NASAWebb has hit its next biggest milestone: the mirrors have completed deployment and the next-generation telescope has taken its final form.
Next up for Webb?
Five months of alignment and calibration before we start getting images: pic.twitter.com/BOj5O1HS37
- NASA (@NASA) January 8, 2022
The James Webb space telescope had already taken a major step for the success of its mission on Tuesday.
His heat shield had been fully deployed.
This is an essential element for conducting future observations of the cosmos.
Even if many operations remain to be successful for the observatory to be fully ready, the deployment of this sun visor was the "most difficult" on the list, recalled Thomas Zurbuchen, head of scientific missions at NASA, the agency. space, welcoming this success.