File:The Flight Sunshield Deployed and Fully Tensioned by Northrop Grumman for First Time (37950711251).jpg

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A milestone - Northrop Grumman Corporation has deployed NASA's James Webb Space Telescope's sunshield subsystem and fully tensioned the five sunshield layers for the first time!

"In space, the sunshield subsystem divides the JWST observatory into a warm sun-facing side and a cold space-facing side comprised of the optics and scientific instruments. The sunshield subsystem, which includes the structure and mechanisms required for deploying the five-layer subsystem, was designed, manufactured and assembled by Northrop Grumman, with the five membrane layers manufactured by the NeXolve Corporation in Huntsville, Alabama.

The flight membranes will be folded, stowed and tensioned again two additional times for testing. The folding and stowing method is how the membranes will be folded and stowed for launch. The sunshield layers, known for being the size of a tennis court, will protect and prevent the background heat from the Sun, Earth and Moon from interfering with JWST’s infrared sensors.

The sunshield layers, each as thin as a human hair, work together to reduce the temperatures between the hot and cold sides of the observatory by approximately 570 degrees Fahrenheit. Moving from the sun-facing layer to the one closest to the telescope, each successive layer of the sunshield, which is made of Kapton, is cooler than the one below. The sunshield, along with the rest of the spacecraft, will fold origami-style into an Ariane 5 rocket."

Read the full news release: news.northropgrumman.com/news/releases/sunshield-deployme...

Image credit: Northrop Grumman

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Source The Flight Sunshield Deployed and Fully Tensioned by Northrop Grumman for First Time
Author NASA's James Webb Space Telescope from Greenbelt, MD, USA

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This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
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This image was originally posted to Flickr by James Webb Space Telescope at https://flickr.com/photos/50785054@N03/37950711251. It was reviewed on 6 June 2023 by FlickreviewR 2 and was confirmed to be licensed under the terms of the cc-by-2.0.

6 June 2023

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current21:53, 6 June 2023Thumbnail for version as of 21:53, 6 June 20232,000 × 3,000 (4.05 MB)Astromessier (talk | contribs)Transferred from Flickr via #flickr2commons

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