14 DAY TRIAL // Engineers with the Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems Space Park facility, in Redondo Beach, California, are currently setting up a full-scale engineering model of the sunshield that will go on the NASA James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).
The observatory will be the most complex ever constructed when it launches in 2018. It will feature a host of new technologies, including the one that was used to construct the ultra-thin sunshield. JWST will have a shield made up of 5 layers, each of which is the size of a tennis field when fully unfolded.
In the image above, Northrop engineers are hoisting up the full-scale engineering model of the JWST sunshield before a series of scheduled tests. These assessments will seek to determine whether or not the protective shield is able to endure the harsh conditions of a space launch. Additionally, engineers will also test how the shield deploys in space.
JWST will be the first telescope to be launched in a packed configuration, since it is simply too large to fit inside its Atlas V delivery system. After launch, it will head towards the L2 Lagrangian orbital point, where it will extend its primary mirrors and sunshield before starting its science mission.