What is the backbone of life? That super
stable, central element to all organic molecules?
And happens to be the fourth most abundant element in the Universe?
It's carbon. Why else is carbon special to Webb?
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Carbon has once again proven its worth
in the form of the Webb Telescope backplane. Now this structure holds
2.5 tons of science instruments, those beautiful gold mirrors,
and it's made out of a carbon composite.
You might
be more familiar with graphite, a crystalline form of carbon.
Graphite really is used everywhere. It's in airplanes, bikes, our tripods.
It's great because its strong and super lightweight
just like Webb's backbone.
Look at the difference in weight between the aluminum and the
same amount of the backplane material.
The backplane isn't entirely all carbon,
a durable polymer binds those carbon fibers together
with a plasticky-like glue and then they are baked
in an autoclave like this. Step 1.
Step 2. Step 3.
Step 4. Step 5.
Alright, so I think we should
probably go maybe in front of the pathfinder. Once out in the cold vacuum of space,
this backplane will shift, because all materials change with temperature.
But this structure is aligned so that it is perfect
once it does shift into space and cool down.
That happens to only be 1/10,000th the diameter of a hair.
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So freaking cool!
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