The left wing of Webb’s primary mirror unfolded and locked into position on Saturday, in what was the final step of the major deployments phase. The space telescope finally looks like a telescope, but the commissioning phase is far from over.
Ground controllers at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore declared the primary mirror complete at 1:17 p.m. EST on Saturday, January 8, having started with the left wing deployment some four hours earlier. The team moved the right wing into position on Friday. The primary mirror, at 21 feet (6.4 meters) wide, is now the largest mirror ever sent into space, with a collecting area more than six times that of Hubble’s mirror. The telescope had to be folded tight to make it fit inside the payload fairing of an Ariane 5 rocket, and assembling it in orbit was deemed unfeasible.
So with the primary mirror, as well as the secondary mirror, radiator, sunshield, and solar panel, securely in place, all major deployments have been wrapped up, and with no serious glitches or hurdles to speak of. Launched to space on Christmas Day, Webb is a joint effort involving NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Canadian Space Agency.
