One of four guide masts with five tensioners for each layer of the telescope shield.

According to NASA, ground flight control team James Webb has completed the complex process of final tightening of the first layer of the telescope's solar shield, and has also successfully performed similar actions with the second and third layers, including their separation.

NASA said the telescope's engineers started with the bottom layer - the largest (the size of a tennis court), which is closest to the Sun in the structure of the device. It will have the highest temperature. Then they sequentially moved on to the second and third. In 24 hours, work will be carried out on the fourth and fifth - the smallest layer, which is closest to the main mirror. Pulling the layers involves sending commands to activate multiple motors to wind a total of 90 cables through multiple pulleys, tensioners, and cable and cable guides.

The telescope flight team from Earth individually tightens each of the five layers of the sun visor, giving them their final shape. This will create space between the membranes to allow heat to radiate, making each subsequent layer of the sun visor cooler than the one below.

NASA explained that the engineers pulled the first layer of the shield remotely for several hours, the second layer took 74 minutes, and the third layer was stretched in 71 minutes. In total, the telescope specialists spent about six hours tensioning the three layers, with interruptions for monitoring and diagnostic testing of the telescope systems.

This is a very important step in the preparation process for the telescope. If the sun shield is not deployed properly, the capabilities of the space observatory, which is essentially a unique cold telescope, will be significantly reduced. It is this design that will keep the telescope and Webb's scientific instruments very cold.

The Process of Unfolding and Stretching the Layers of the James Webb Telescope's Sunshield as Tested on Earth

On December 25, the James Webb Space Telescope was launched into space on the Ariane 5 rocket.

After entering space, the telescope successfully completed the procedure for deploying solar panels, and also made the first course correction towards its destination - the L2 Lagrange point of the Sun-Earth system.

On December 28, the James Webb Telescope completed the process of deploying the rectangular sunscreen pallets and began following the steps to deploy the sunscreen.

On December 29, NASA made available to all the current average readings from 4 temperature sensors on the hot and cold sides of the James Webb telescope. NASA also said that the tower was lifted over the shield, and according to a new estimate of scientists and engineers, the telescope will have enough fuel for more than 10 years of operation, since it has been significantly saved during maneuvers in space.

On December 31, 2021, NASA reported that the first and second telescopic booms for deploying the sunscreen had extended normally and locked in their final position.

The flight parameters of the James Webb telescope can be monitored on this page of the NASA website. At present, the telescope has already moved away from the Earth at a distance of more than 895 thousand km, has flown 62% of the calculated trajectory, and its current cruising speed is about 0.5 km / s.

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