The James Webb telescope is now fully deployed, NASA reports

The James Webb Space Telescope successfully completed the last stage of its deployment this Saturday, along with that of its main mirror, and is already in its final configuration to begin, in just over five months, its exploration of the cosmos.

“The final wing is now deployed,” NASA said on Twitter, adding that the team was now working “to secure the wing in place, a process of several hours.”

That iconic telescope main mirror measures around 6.5 meters in diameter and because the telescope was too large to fit the nose cone of a rocket in its operational lift-off configuration, it was transported with its two sides folded.

The first of these two wings was deployed on Friday and the second opened on Saturday morning, as planned, NASA said.

Deployment has been a complex and challenging task, according to NASA, the most daunting project ever attempted.

Webb, the most powerful space telescope ever built and the successor to Hubble, took off in an Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana on December 25 and is heading to its orbital point, 1.5 million kilometers from Earth.

Its infrared technology allows it to see the first stars and galaxies that formed 13.5 billion years ago, giving astronomers a new perspective on the earliest epoch of the Universe.

“Before we celebrate, we still have work to do,” NASA said in its live updates. “When the final latch is secure, NASA Webb will be fully deployed in space,” he said.

Earlier this week, the telescope unfolded its five-layer sunscreen, a 21-meter-long comet-shaped device that acts like an umbrella, which ensures that Webb’s instruments are kept in the shade so they can detect. faint infrared signals from the far reaches of the Universe. (I)