Space: Webb Telescope Deploying a Heat Shield – Technology

Rome, January 4, 2021 – Il Telescopio James Webb He is in full swing to begin his work of looking into the farthest reaches of the universe after what it was today unfolded successfully the so-called Sun umbrella, One heat shield Which will protect him from sunlight and keep his tools in a stable thermal environment. Today was actually one of the key passages of the message but also one of the most difficult to accomplish.

Giant “umbrella” The size of a tennis courtfolded into five layers, capable of reducing sun exposure from more than 200 kilowatts to a fraction of a watt. The maneuvers of this delicate process – similar to separating the layers of onions – took two days and were divided into two phases, one to lengthen the three closest to the sun and the other to tighten the last two.

The telescope must be too big to fit a rocket as is folded on itself Like origami, and in these hours it is exposed in space with actions that are extremely dangerous and, therefore, often avoided.

Webb, the largest and most complex space telescope, is the result of a collaboration between NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). It cost about 10 billion dollars, it was It was launched on December 25th And after a month of travel, it should reach the orbit of its destination around second Lagrange point (L2), about one and a half million kilometers from Earth. From there it is hoped that he can answer many of the great astronomical mysteries, such as energy and dark matter, or discover the existence of inhabited planets.