1
00:00:00,042 --> 00:00:10,710
 
This is a science mission on par with the Apollo missions, the space shuttle, International Space Station and the Hubble
missions. For nearly two decades, thousands

2
00:00:10,710 --> 00:00:16,570
of people, around the world, many spending
their entire careers built the James Webb

3
00:00:16,570 --> 00:00:31,939
Space Telescope. And it all comes down to
this. Once we launch the James Webb Space

4
00:00:31,939 --> 00:00:41,720
Telescope there are no second chances. We have 300 single-point failure items and they all have to work right. When you're a

5
00:00:41,720 --> 00:00:53,850
million miles from the Earth, you can't send someone
to fix it. We've never put a telescope this

6
00:00:53,850 --> 00:00:59,760
large in space. We want to see distant parts
of the universe humans have never seen before.

7
00:00:59,760 --> 00:01:06,480
Looking back in time almost 14 billion years
to see the first galaxies that formed after

8
00:01:06,480 --> 00:01:11,760
the big bang. And, we want to search for the
building blocks of life in the atmospheres

9
00:01:11,760 --> 00:01:19,810
of planets orbiting distant stars. To unfold
the history of the universe, we must first

10
00:01:19,810 --> 00:01:27,871
unfold this telescope. This is the largest
primary mirror, the largest sunshield, and

11
00:01:27,871 --> 00:01:33,940
most powerful space telescope ever built.
And yet, this large telescope needs to fit

12
00:01:33,940 --> 00:01:40,260
inside a 5.4 meter diameter rocket fairing.
That's the largest fairing size available

13
00:01:40,260 --> 00:01:44,770
on any rocket, and it's the fairing size on
our ride to space, the Ariane 5 provided by

14
00:01:44,770 --> 00:01:52,020
the European Space Agency is one of the world's
most powerful rockets. To cheat the fairing

15
00:01:52,020 --> 00:02:00,071
size limit, we built Webb to fold like origami,
to fit inside the rocket fairing. And this

16
00:02:00,071 --> 00:02:03,510
brings us to the
most challenging part of this mission: Unfolding

17
00:02:03,510 --> 00:02:12,120
it in space.six. cinq. quatre. Think of what
you are doing. You're taking this extraordinarily

18
00:02:12,120 --> 00:02:17,200
delicate, precise, state-of-the-art scientific
instrument, and you're slapping on a rocket

19
00:02:17,200 --> 00:02:24,710
and for the next 8 minutes, the explosion
from that rocket is following you into outer space.

20
00:02:24,710 --> 00:02:35,400
Vibrating you. Shaking you. Everything
that goes into space has to live through this

21
00:02:35,400 --> 00:02:44,470
environment and work once it gets there, without
having someone come to fix it.

22
00:02:44,470 --> 00:02:54,209
Two weeks. That's how long it takes Webb to fully deploy the
Webb Telescope. We can take longer if we need

23
00:02:54,209 --> 00:02:59,250
to, but those two weeks after launch are
going to be nail-bitters. This is the Mission

24
00:02:59,250 --> 00:03:04,980
Operations Center at the Space Telescope Science
Institute in Baltimore. Those 2 weeks after

25
00:03:04,980 --> 00:03:10,090
launch will be like our Super Bowl, World
Cup, you pick the analogy. Years of training

26
00:03:10,090 --> 00:03:18,330
comes down to these moments. The Webb Observatory
has about 50 major

27
00:03:18,330 --> 00:03:24,860
deployments.50! depending on how you categorize
them. And 178 release mechanisms must work

28
00:03:24,860 --> 00:03:32,410
to deploy those 50 parts. Every single one
of them must work. Unfolding Webb is hands

29
00:03:32,410 --> 00:03:37,920
down, the most complicated spacecraft activity
we've ever done. Then again, nothing about

30
00:03:37,920 --> 00:03:44,160
Webb is easy, we've never done this before.
There's nothing simple about sending anything

31
00:03:44,160 --> 00:03:57,470
into space. You can't do it without taking
risks. This mission is squarely in new spacecraft territory. Webb is the perfect example of science desire 

32
00:03:57,470 --> 00:04:04,510
driving engineering capability
to new frontiers. Webb's unique design is born from

33
00:04:04,510 --> 00:04:16,500
reasoned engineering to accomplish its science
goals. Here is the plan. Shortly after launch,

34
00:04:16,500 --> 00:04:24,270
we unfold Webb's solar panel for power, and a high gain antenna for communication. About 12 hours later, we have an important engine

35
00:04:24,270 --> 00:04:29,639
firing that sends Webb on the proper course
toward its orbital destination, about 1-million

36
00:04:29,639 --> 00:04:36,009
miles away. That's where it will do its science.
Webb will be moving so fast, it passes the

37
00:04:36,009 --> 00:04:40,620
Moon's orbit in one and a half days, half
the time it took Apollo astronauts to reach

38
00:04:40,620 --> 00:04:48,289
Lunar orbit. First, we lower the sunshield
pallets, then raise Webb's primary mirror

39
00:04:48,289 --> 00:04:53,009
and instruments away from the sunshield. The solar wind will push us around

40
00:04:53,009 --> 00:04:58,419
with the sunshield open, so we'll unfold a
trim tab to help keep us stable. We've got

41
00:04:58,419 --> 00:05:03,819
this huge iconic golden segmented mirror that
will help us deliver amazing new images of

42
00:05:03,819 --> 00:05:08,589
the cosmos. But in some ways the sunshield
is a lot more complicated, and it's just as

43
00:05:08,589 --> 00:05:16,129
essential. Without it, nothing works. Here
we've got 5 shunshield layers, approximately 8900 square

44
00:05:16,129 --> 00:05:20,499
feet, almost the size of 3 tennis courts of very thin Kapton

45
00:05:20,499 --> 00:05:26,289
material about one to two thousanths of an
inch thick. Making them go where you want

46
00:05:26,289 --> 00:05:33,279
them to go in zero-G, is extremely challenging.
The sunshield shades the telescope from the

47
00:05:33,279 --> 00:05:38,349
heat of the Sun, Earth and Moon. The concept
is simple but, there's nothing simple about

48
00:05:38,349 --> 00:05:44,960
the design or operation, especially when you
get in space. Webb's sunshield assembly includes

49
00:05:44,960 --> 00:05:51,889
140 release mechanisms, approximately 70 hinge
assemblies, 8 deployment motors, bearings,

50
00:05:51,889 --> 00:06:00,499
springs and gears, about 400 pulleys and 90
cables totaling 1312 feet. All this just to

51
00:06:00,499 --> 00:06:07,680
keep the sunshield under control as it unfolds.
First, we release these special restraints

52
00:06:07,680 --> 00:06:12,030
that protect the sunshield during launch.
They roll out of the way, but not all the

53
00:06:12,030 --> 00:06:19,139
way until we are ready to deploy a side. Next,
we release a set of covers over the core region.

54
00:06:19,139 --> 00:06:28,289
Now comes the critical point - All 107 sunshield
release mechanisms need to fire on cue. 107.

55
00:06:28,289 --> 00:06:48,189
They free the five sunshield layers, allowing them
to extend as the mid-booms deploy. 

56
00:06:48,189 --> 00:06:53,490
With the sunshield fully deployed, we start setting
up the optics. First, the secondary mirror

57
00:06:53,490 --> 00:06:59,020
is extended and locked into place. And a special
radiator behind Webb is extended which helps

58
00:06:59,020 --> 00:07:04,639
further lower the temperature of the science
instruments. Finally, we open the primary mirror's

59
00:07:04,639 --> 00:07:12,250
wings and lock them in place. With
that done, Webb is in its final configuration.

60
00:07:12,250 --> 00:07:20,259
But we're not done yet. After 47 deployments,
and accomplishing the hardest spacecraft unfolding

61
00:07:20,259 --> 00:07:26,449
NASA has ever done, Webb still won't be ready
for science. While the instruments cool, we'll

62
00:07:26,449 --> 00:07:31,629
control motors behind each of Webb's 18 mirror
segments, the secondary mirror and the in

63
00:07:31,629 --> 00:07:37,979
the fine steering mirror located inside the center
of the primary mirror. We'll precisely align

64
00:07:37,979 --> 00:07:44,479
the mirror segments to form a perfect mirror.
Then, Webb will be ready to explore the cosmos.

65
00:07:44,479 --> 00:07:45,479
\
\

66
00:07:45,479 --> 00:07:46,479
\
\

67
00:07:46,479 --> 00:07:52,479
}