Sunshield uncovered in James Webb Space Telescope's latest deployment

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has completed another two preliminary step necessary to deploy its sunshield.

The previous step in ultimately deploying the JWST's sunshield was the extension of the Deployable Tower Assembly (DTA) on December 29th. On December 30th, the Aft Momentum Flap was deployed, followed by the sunshield covers being released.

The Aft Momentum Flap is used to offset some solar pressure impinging upon the large sunshield. It also helps to minimize fuel usage by the JWST. Just after 9 a.m. EST (14:00 UTC), the hold-down devices were released, and a spring drove the rotation of the aft flap into its final position. The process took about eight minutes. An animation of the deployment is viewable here.

After that, the release devices for the protective membrane covers, enveloping the sunshield, were activated. These covers protected the sunshield during the launch and while the JWST was on the ground on Earth. You can see an animation of the process here. A rundown of the entire deployment sequence is viewable on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) YouTube channel.