James Webb Space Telescope Completes An Additional Stage Of Instrument Alignment
Chanda Walker, Webb’s wavefront sensing control scientist, stated in the NASA statement that “this achievement was due to many decades of planning and great teamwork amongst the wavefront sensing group.” (Ball provided Webb with an optical mirror system.
Engineers are waiting for the cooldown of the telescope’s middle-infrared (MIRI) instrument. This requires ultra-cool temperatures or cryogenic temperatures in order to pick up infrared signatures of distant objects, whether they be exoplanets and galaxies.
NASA stated that MIRI will be fully cooled to its cryogenic operating temperature within the next few weeks. NASA also said that the second alignment of multi-instruments will take place to finalize adjustments to instruments and mirrors, if necessary.
NASA said that once the telescope is able to focus its light on each instrument successfully, NASA will hold a “key decision meeting”, in order to confirm that the alignment process has been completed.
The agency stated that the team would then move from aligning efforts to commissioning each instrument. The program of early scientific (Cycle 1) will begin around June. “Cycle 2”, operational science, is expected to begin in mid-2023.
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