The James Webb Telescope, headed to its destination 15,00,000 kilometres away from Earth, achieved a major milestone as it crossed the altitude of the Moon as engineers performed the second burn. The mid-course correction burn performed 60 hours after the telescope was launched from French Guiana lasted for 9 minutes and 27 seconds, putting the telescope precisely in orbit around the second Lagrange point.
Nasa said that a total of three mid-course corrections (MCC) manoeuvres need to be performed to align the spacecraft for its intended destination, with two already complete, the third is set for 29 days after the launch which will insert Webb into the optimum orbit around L2. "This burn fine-tunes Webb's trajectory after launch. The duration of the burn will depend on Ariane 5 launcher performance," Nasa said.
While the two burns are complete, the telescope still has over 27 days of the journey ahead of itself to trek the 15,00,000 kilometres distance from Earth. A lot still needs to happen with pinpoint accuracy to ensure the telescope begins its mission looking at the birth of our universe.
An engineering and scientific marvel of its time, deploying the James Webb Telescope in space will be one of the most challenging feats ever to be undertaken by humans. Mike Menzel, Webb Mission Lead System Engineer said, "There are no second chances, we have 300 single-point failure items and they all have to work right, when you are a million miles away from Earth, you cannot send someone to fix it. We have never put a telescope this far away from us and everything has to be right."
With two course-corrections, the next attempt will be to deploy the sunshields on the telescope, which will protect the instruments from the heat generated by the Sun, Moon and the Earth. The deployment begins three days after launch as scientists lower the sun-shield and raise the primary mirror and instrument away from it. With the solar wind pushing the spacecraft, a turn tab will be deployed to keep it stable.
The sunshield is much more complicated, made up of five shields approximately the size of three tennis courts of very thin Kapton material about one to two-thousandths of an inch thick. It alone includes 140 release mechanisms, 70 hinge assemblies, eight deployment motors, bearings, springs, gears, 400 pulleys, and cable totaling 1312 feet. All have to work perfectly.
Engineers will send out commands to release restraints that protected the telescope during launch, next the covers on the core region is removed. All 107 sunshield release mechanisms need to fire on cue for the shields to fully open. That's 107.
When scientists first conceptualised the telescope, the biggest challenge was fitting it in the biggest rocket fairing that is just 5.4 meters wide. The mirror on the telescope had to be folded like an origami for it to even launch in the first place. Now in space, the mirrors will begin deployment by Day 10 with the secondary mirror opening up. This will be followed up by the primary mirror coming up on Day 12 since launch.
However, after all this and nearly 27 days of coasting through open space, Webb will still not be ready to do science. While instruments cool down, the control motors behind each of Webb's 18 mirror segments, secondary mirror and the fine steering mirror located inside the primary mirror will have to align to form the perfect mirror by Day 29.
"Two weeks is how long it will take the Webb to fully deploy from launch. Those two weeks after launch are going to be a nail biter. Years of training comes down to these two weeks," said Amy Lo, Webb Deputy Director for Vehicle Training.
The most complicated telescope ever built, set to be the most powerful, will need every ball and bearing to perform pitch-perfect for the $10 billion mission to usher a new era in astronomy and unfold the secrets of our origins.
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