JWST Just Deployed a Sail That Lets it Stop Getting Pushed Around by the Sun's Radiation. - Universe Today universetoday storybywill
began at 09:00 AM EST and lasted about eight minutes. During this time, the mission team released the flap’s hold-down devices while a spring brought the flap into its final position. The purpose of this flap is to maintain the observatory’s orientation to minimize the fuel engineers will need to make corrective adjustments throughout the mission.
All of this comes down to the telescope’s sunshield, a key component aboard the JWST designed to keep the telescope’s mirrors at a constant temperature of less than 50 K . This ensures that the telescope can fulfill its mission objectives and make highly-sensitive observations in the infrared spectrum. However, a small drawback of the sunshield is how solar radiation exerts pressure on its surface, much like a solar sail.
This solar pressure would cause the observatory to rotate in space, which would otherwise have to be corrected by the telescope’s reaction wheels. The aft momentum flap compensates for this by offsetting solar radiation pressure, much like how a trim tab counteracts hydro- or aerodynamic to keep a boat or aircraft in a stable position. This flap is one of several components that will help keep the JWST steady as it attempts to unfurl its sunshield.
This will be the next point in the JWST’s deployment schedule and will consist of several steps. The first took place
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