"The 'Eye of Humanity' James Webb's Reason for Transformation in Space [Reading Science]"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] The James Webb Space Telescope, known as the "eye of humanity" that will unveil the secrets of the universe's birth and confirm the existence of extraterrestrials, is smoothly progressing with its scheduled "transformation mission" and is cruising toward its target orbit.

On the 6th, the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced that the Webb telescope, flying about 1 million km away from Earth, successfully deployed its secondary mirror. This secondary mirror, measuring 0.74 meters in diameter, absorbs infrared rays reflected through the primary mirror (6.5 meters in diameter). It is fixed by three supports approximately 7.26 meters long. To ensure smooth operation, NASA used a special heating system to warm the motors and joints, successfully folding the secondary mirror support, which had been folded backward, forward and securing it in front of the primary mirror. The deployment operation, which started at 9:52 a.m. (Eastern Time), took about 2 hours and 30 minutes and was completed around 12:23 p.m. NASA described it as "the world's most sophisticated tripod unfolding" and said, "It was another amazing day for the Webb telescope. Controlling the telescope while it is far away from Earth is unbelievable."

NASA plans to deploy the aft-deployed infrared radiator (ADIR), which helps dissipate heat from the equipment and mirrors. Two days later, the telescope will unfold the primary mirror, which is folded on both sides. Once this is successfully completed, the Webb telescope will finish its "transformation" in space. Afterward, fine adjustments of the primary mirror and inspections of the observation instruments will be conducted.

The transformation process of the James Webb Space Telescope. Photo by NASA.

Earlier, the Webb telescope deployed its solar panels and radio transmission and reception antennas just 29 minutes after launch on the 25th of last month. Three days after launch, it unfolded the pallets supporting the sunshield, which had been folded and separated on both sides. Subsequently, it deployed the diamond-shaped sunshield, roughly the size of a tennis court (about 25㎡), separated its five layers, and on the 4th, completed the task of tensioning and securing the layers over five hours. These shields block sunlight and heat, maintaining a temperature of minus 235 degrees Celsius to ensure the equipment onboard the Webb telescope operates properly.

This task was considered the most challenging among the "transformation" operations the Webb telescope must perform while navigating toward its target. This is because the spacecraft, traveling alone in space hundreds of thousands of kilometers from Earth, must be remotely controlled to perform extremely delicate operations. NASA engineers removed 107 pins securing the folded sunshield on the 31st of last month, successfully unfolding it, and on the 4th, succeeded in tensioning and securing it. NASA explained that the Webb telescope has to perform 344 deployment and arrangement tasks during its navigation before starting its mission, and with the sunshield deployment completed, about 75% of these tasks are finished.

The reason the Webb telescope is undergoing such a complex transformation in space is that it is too large to be carried intact by any existing space launch vehicle. There is currently no rocket capable of carrying the Webb telescope, which, when fully unfolded, is the size of a tennis court. Therefore, NASA chose the "transformation" in space as an alternative.

Costing 10 billion dollars (approximately 11.95 trillion won), the Webb telescope was launched on Christmas Day, the 25th of last month, at 9:20 p.m. (Korean time). Around the 29th day after launch, it is expected to arrive at the Lagrange Point 2 (L2), 1.5 million km from Earth, where it will orbit the sun and carry out its mission. The L2 point offers the advantage of balanced gravitational and centrifugal forces between Earth and the sun, requiring no additional fuel consumption. However, it is so far from Earth that, unlike its predecessor, the Hubble Space Telescope (orbiting at 600 km), repairs are impossible if it malfunctions. NASA has devoted great care during development to prevent failures and equipped the telescope with remote control systems. In case of emergency, NASA hopes to use the upcoming super heavy-lift launch vehicle (SLS) or SpaceX’s large rocket Starship for repairs once they are completed.

The Webb telescope boasts observation capabilities more than 100 times superior to the Hubble telescope. In particular, its infrared detectors can capture light from celestial bodies 13.5 billion light-years away. Scientists are excited about the possibility of observing early galaxies and stars in the universe, as well as detecting light from planets surrounded by distant cosmic dust clouds. It also enables analysis of the chemical composition of planets and the search for the presence of substances necessary for life, such as water.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.