NASA confirm that the antenna device is on James Webb Space Telescope has been installed successfully.
Scientists call it a gimbal antenna assembly, where it carries the high-level data dish that is responsible for transmitting Webb’s observations about the formation of the early universe, back to Earth.
“This antenna will be used to transmit at least 28.6 Gbytes of science data from the observatory, twice a day,” NASA officials wrote, quoted from Space, Tuesday (12/28/2021).
“The team has now released and tested the antenna assembly motion – the whole process took about an hour.” he added.
The $10 billion telescope is designed to study the universe’s earliest stars and other cosmic mysteries. It is the largest and most powerful telescope ever launched into space.
The antenna installation is part of a month-long series of steps to prepare the telescope for its space-observation mission.
Webb is currently on a 29-day journey to a stable point in space called Lagrange Point 2, or L2, which is nearly 1 million miles (1.6 million kilometers) from Earth. From there the infrared space telescope will observe the universe.
In addition to antenna deployment and testing, Webb’s flight controller also activated the telescope’s temperature and strain gauge for the first time.
Also read: NASA Launches Telescope To Study Earth’s History
The gauges will allow flight controllers to monitor the temperature and structural health of the Webb space telescope in the days to come.
(DRM)
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