�WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th January, 2022) US technicians have successfully deployed the second support structure for the mirror of the James Webb Space Telescope, which is now 600,000 miles out from earth, NASA announced on Wednesday.
"Today, Webb teams successfully deployed the observatory's secondary mirror support structure," the US space agency said in a blog post. "When light from the distant universe hits Webb's iconic 18 gold Primary mirrors, it will reflect off and hit the smaller, 2.4-foot (.74-meter) secondary mirror, which will direct the light into its instruments."
The secondary mirror is supported by three lightweight deployable struts that are each almost 25 feet long and are designed to withstand the space environment. Specialized heating systems were used to warm up the joints and motors needed for seamless operation, NASA said.
"Another banner day for JWST (James Webb Space Telescope)," Webb project manager Bill Ochs at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center said in a message to the secondary mirror deployment team at the Mission Operations Center in Baltimore. "This is unbelievable ... We're about 600,000 miles from Earth, and we actually have a telescope."
The deployment process began at 9:52 am Eastern Standard Time (EST) and the secondary mirror finished moving into position at 11:28 am. The secondary mirror support structure was then latched at 11:51 am and at 12:23 pm, engineers confirmed the structure was locked into place and deployment was complete, NASA said.
