This is a science mission on par with the Apollo missions, the space shuttle, International Space Station and the Hubble missions. For nearly two decades, thousands
of people, around the world, many spending their entire careers built the James Webb
Space Telescope. And it all comes down to this. Once we launch the James Webb Space
Telescope there are no second chances. We have 300 single-point failure items and they all have to work right. When you're a
million miles from the Earth, you can't send someone to fix it. We've never put a telescope this
large in space. We want to see distant parts of the universe humans have never seen before.
Looking back in time almost 14 billion years to see the first galaxies that formed after
the big bang. And, we want to search for the building blocks of life in the atmospheres
of planets orbiting distant stars. To unfold the history of the universe, we must first
unfold this telescope. This is the largest primary mirror, the largest sunshield, and
most powerful space telescope ever built. And yet, this large telescope needs to fit
inside a 5.4 meter diameter rocket fairing. That's the largest fairing size available
on any rocket, and it's the fairing size on our ride to space, the Ariane 5 provided by
the European Space Agency is one of the world's most powerful rockets. To cheat the fairing
size limit, we built Webb to fold like origami, to fit inside the rocket fairing. And this
brings us to the most challenging part of this mission: Unfolding
it in space.six. cinq. quatre. Think of what you are doing. You're taking this extraordinarily
delicate, precise, state-of-the-art scientific instrument, and you're slapping on a rocket
and for the next 8 minutes, the explosion from that rocket is following you into outer space.
Vibrating you. Shaking you. Everything that goes into space has to live through this
environment and work once it gets there, without having someone come to fix it.
Two weeks. That's how long it takes Webb to fully deploy the Webb Telescope. We can take longer if we need
to, but those two weeks after launch are going to be nail-bitters. This is the Mission
Operations Center at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore. Those 2 weeks after
launch will be like our Super Bowl, World Cup, you pick the analogy. Years of training
comes down to these moments. The Webb Observatory has about 50 major
deployments.50! depending on how you categorize them. And 178 release mechanisms must work
to deploy those 50 parts. Every single one of them must work. Unfolding Webb is hands
down, the most complicated spacecraft activity we've ever done. Then again, nothing about
Webb is easy, we've never done this before. There's nothing simple about sending anything
into space. You can't do it without taking risks. This mission is squarely in new spacecraft territory. Webb is the perfect example of science desire
driving engineering capability to new frontiers. Webb's unique design is born from
reasoned engineering to accomplish its science goals. Here is the plan. Shortly after launch,
we unfold Webb's solar panel for power, and a high gain antenna for communication. About 12 hours later, we have an important engine
firing that sends Webb on the proper course toward its orbital destination, about 1-million
miles away. That's where it will do its science. Webb will be moving so fast, it passes the
Moon's orbit in one and a half days, half the time it took Apollo astronauts to reach
Lunar orbit. First, we lower the sunshield pallets, then raise Webb's primary mirror
and instruments away from the sunshield. The solar wind will push us around
with the sunshield open, so we'll unfold a trim tab to help keep us stable. We've got
this huge iconic golden segmented mirror that will help us deliver amazing new images of
the cosmos. But in some ways the sunshield is a lot more complicated, and it's just as
essential. Without it, nothing works. Here we've got 5 shunshield layers, approximately 8900 square
feet, almost the size of 3 tennis courts of very thin Kapton
material about one to two thousanths of an inch thick. Making them go where you want
them to go in zero-G, is extremely challenging. The sunshield shades the telescope from the
heat of the Sun, Earth and Moon. The concept is simple but, there's nothing simple about
the design or operation, especially when you get in space. Webb's sunshield assembly includes
140 release mechanisms. approximately 70 hinge assemblies, 8 deployment motors, bearings,
springs and gears, about 400 pulleys and 90 cables totaling 1312 feet. All this just to
keep the sunshield under control as it unfolds. First, we release these special restraints
that protect the sunshield during launch. They roll out of the way, but not all the
way until we are ready to deploy a side. Next, we release a set of covers over the core region.
Now comes the critical point - All 107 sunshield release mechanisms need to fire on cue. 107.
They free the five sunshield layers, allowing them to extend as the mid-booms deploy.
With the sunshield fully deployed, we start setting up the optics. First, the secondary mirror
is extended and locked into place. And a special radiator behind Webb is extended which helps
further lower the temperature of the science instruments. Finally, we open the primary mirror's
wings and lock them in place. With that done, Webb is in its final configuration.
But we're not done yet. After 47 deployments, and accomplishing the hardest spacecraft unfolding
NASA has ever done, Webb still won't be ready for science. While the instruments cool, we'll
control motors behind each of Webb's 18 mirror segments, the secondary mirror and the in
the fine steering mirror located inside the center of the primary mirror. We'll precisely align
the mirror segments to form a perfect mirror. Then, Webb will be ready to explore the cosmos.
\ \
}