The new James Webb Space Telescope recently deployed one of its critical equipment on space last December 26. The said piece was an antenna that would serve as a gateway for communication between the space telescope and ground control. The deployment of the James Webb antenna is among the first few maneuvers that the telescope had performed, following its successful launch last Christmas.
JWST Gimbaled Antenna Assembly Deployed
KOUROU, FRENCH GUIANA - DECEMBER 25: Launch teams monitor the countdown to the launch of Arianespace's Ariane 5 rocket carrying NASA's James Webb Space Telescope on December 25, 2021, in the Jupiter Center at the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana. The James Webb Space Telescope (sometimes called JWST or Webb) is a large infrared telescope with a 21.3 foot (6.5 meters) primary mirror. The observatory will study every phase of cosmic history, from our solar system to the most distant observable galaxies in the early universe.
The Webb space telescope opened one of its essential communication devices called the gimbaled antenna assembly. Space reported that the mechanism is developed and attached to the telescope for future relays of imaging and other information between Webb itself and the ground controls located on Earth. This antenna is expected to be the line of many studies that will be harnessed by observing the space telescope.
The gimbaled antenna assembly aboard the Webb space telescope is curated with a dish that could interpret and throw high data rates back and forth. The antenna will be utilized further in future missions of the telescope regarding the examinations of the deep space and early universe, which are far more than what we could observe in today's astronomical technology.
The James Webb Space Telescope was launched from Kourou's spaceport in French Guiana last Saturday, December 25, and lifted the Ariane 5 rocket.
The gimbaled antenna assembly that flourished on the Webb space telescope is specialized with a capacity of sending a maximum of 28.6 GB of data to the ground control two times per day. NASA confirmed that the space telescope had been successfully released and tested the overall motion displacement of the antenna assembly. The update from the space agency added that the entire process of the antenna's activation only took 1 hour of completion.
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Webb's Mission: Early Stars and Deep Space Observation
According to a previous report, the Webb space telescope cost at least 10 billion dollars of investment. It is designed to surpass what the old Hubble telescope achieved in the past. The new telescope's main interest is to gather data from ancient stars and unexplained phenomena scattered across the observable universe.
The first few initiations of the Webb telescope will heavily involve the assistance of the gimbaled antenna assembly. Alongside the deep-space investigation, the telescope will take advantage of its infrared utility for testing its other functions right at Lagrange Point 2, located just 1.6 million kilometers away from our planet.
The infrared observation testings will then be followed by a series of screenings involving Webb's strain and temperature gauges. For the first time, these gauges will be brought online to monitor the heat containment of the space telescope as part of Webb's health maintenance from here on forward.
The deployment of the antenna and other correspondings tests must meet the expected standards that experts planned out for the space telescope as soon as possible. This is because, right after completing the initial tests, Webb's incredibly large sun shield will be opened for the first time when December 28 hits the calendar. To move on to complex observations, sustaining the right amount of temperature and protection from the sun must be set, as the worst weakness of our history's greatest telescope is excessive heat.
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