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What is the backbone of life? That super

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stable, central element to all organic molecules? 

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And happens to be the fourth most abundant element in the Universe?

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It's carbon. Why else is carbon special to Webb?

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Carbon has once again proven its worth

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in the form of the Webb Telescope backplane. Now this structure holds 

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2.5 tons of science instruments, those beautiful gold mirrors,

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and it's made out of a carbon composite.

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You might

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be more familiar with graphite, a crystalline form of carbon. 

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Graphite really is used everywhere. It's in airplanes, bikes, our tripods. 

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It's great because its strong and super lightweight

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just like Webb's backbone. 

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Look at the difference in weight between the aluminum and the

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same amount of the backplane material.

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The backplane isn't entirely all carbon, 

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a durable polymer binds those carbon fibers together 

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with a plasticky-like glue and then they are baked

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in an autoclave like this. Step 1.

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Step 2. Step 3.

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Step 4. Step 5.

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Alright, so I think we should 

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probably go maybe in front of the pathfinder. Once out in the cold vacuum of space, 

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this backplane will shift, because all materials change with temperature. 

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But this structure is aligned so that it is perfect

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once it does shift into space and cool down. 

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That happens to only be 1/10,000th the diameter of a hair.

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Music

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So freaking cool!

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music