Today, the 2nd full day of the Year 2022. . . was supposed to see the first "stretchings" of the mylar shields (four layers in total) that isolate (and allow for heat-dissapation) away from the gold coated mirror hexagonal assembly -- separating it from the warmer electronics and solar arrays below decks, to avoid thermal warping.
But the team has instead decided to verrify that each motor, on each cable, has been adequately heated by the solar electric powered heaters. . . before asking them to tug the cables attached to the mylar. A single frozen or ice jammed motor would likely end the $10 billion mission. So caution is the wisest approach here. From the latest NASA mission ops blog entry, then:
. . .Taking advantage of its flexible commissioning schedule, the ['scope] team has decided to focus today on optimizing Webb’s power systems while learning more about how the observatory behaves in space. As a result, the ['scope] mission operations team has moved the beginning of sunshield tensioning activities to no earlier than tomorrow, Monday, Jan. 3. This will ensure Webb is in prime condition to begin the next major deployment step in its unfolding process.
Specifically, the team is analyzing how the power subsystem is operating now that several of the major deployments have been completed. Simultaneously, the deployments team is working to make sure motors that are key to the tensioning process are at the optimal temperatures prior to beginning that operation. . . .
[The next gen space 'scope] deployment was designed so that the team could pause deployments if necessary. In this case, Ochs said, they are relying on that flexibility in order to properly address how the massive and complex observatory is responding to the environment of space.
“We’ve spent 20 years on the ground with [the 'scope], designing, developing, and testing,” said Mike Menzel, of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center lead systems engineer. “We’ve had a week to see how the observatory actually behaves in space. It’s not uncommon to learn certain characteristics of your spacecraft once you’re in flight. That’s what we’re doing right now. So far, the major deployments we’ve executed have gone about as smoothly as we could have hoped for. But we want to take our time and understand everything we can about the observatory before moving forward. . . .”
Now you know. . . and to be sure here, patience will be a virtue. So we shall employ it, in 2022. It may be six months yet, before first images are returned from the massive new 'scope's golden hexagonal mirrors. Just as some other 615 to 312 comms are slowly. . . restored. Smile.
नमस्ते
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