A successful unfurling of the giant James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) would be a technological triumph.
After blasting into space on Dec. 24, 2021, JWST will “begin the most complex sequence of deployments ever attempted in a single space mission,” explained NASA. The detailed animation above, produced by NASA and the aerospace company Northrop Grumman, shows the immense complexities of the endeavor. The instrument, tightly packed to fit on a rocket, must unfold and unfurl.
If the gold-tinted mirrors, tennis court-sized sunshield, and other critical parts deploy properly, JWST will be positioned 1 million miles from Earth as the most powerful space telescope ever built. It will see unprecedented things. “We’re going to see the very first stars and galaxies that ever formed,” Jean Creighton, an astronomer and the director of the Manfred Olson Planetarium at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, told Mashable in October.
The 12-minute video begins with JWST launching from a spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana atop an Ariane 5 rocket. After the telescope passes the moon’s orbit, the deployment of the sunshield starts at 5:35. A precise orchestration of booms extending, flaps unfolding, and sunshield stretching ensues.
If all goes as planned, the unprecedented cosmic science mission will start about 160 days after JWST leaves Earth.
