Here's how it works.
James Webb Space Telescope: The engineering behind a 'first light machine' that is not allowed to failWebb's mirror control system only moves one actuator at at time to reduce the complexity of the system electronics, and also to ensure safety These actuators are tiny motors that allow the team to move the individual mirror segments.
Another major factor that Webb has to contend with is heat, as the telescope needs to be ultra-cool to perform its observations in the infrared. "To limit the amount of heat put into Webb’s very cold mirrors from the actuator motors, each actuator can only be operated for a short period at a time," Perrin said."Thus, those big 12.5-millimeter moves for each segment are split up into many, many short moves that happen one actuator at a time."
Webb's mission operations center at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center sends scripts to the telescope, which run under human supervision."At full speed, it takes about a day to move all the segments by just 1 millimeter. It's about the same speed at which grass grows," Perrin said. As Webb continues its adjustments, the mirrors and the instruments will continue to cool from natural radiation into space post-launch.will be Jan. 23, when the mission team expects that it will execute an engine burn and glide towards its ultimate"parking spot" in space known as L2, or the second Earth-sun Lagrange point, a gravitationally stable point in space. Webb will orbit the sun from this spot during its lifetime.
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