NASA's drops a critical mission update for James Webb Space Telescope

Following up on yesterday's announcement by NASA, the space agency has dropped a new update for its James Webb Space Telescope.

Yesterday the space agency announced that the first three layers of the five-layer sunshield were successfully deployed and tightened. The tightening of the remaining two layers was scheduled for today, and according to NASA's most recent update, those remaining two layers have successfully been tensioned, marking the completion of the sunshield deployment and a critical milestone in the process of preparing Webb for operational use.

For those wondering why the sunshield is so important, the tennis court-sized multi-layered shield shaped like a kite is designed to protect Webb's delicate instruments from any harmful rays from the Sun. Additionally, the shield keeps Webb's instruments in the shade, which allows them to be able to detect extremely faint infrared signals from very distant corners of the universe. Now, NASA is moving on to deploying Webb's mirrors, scheduled for tomorrow.

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"This is the first time anyone has ever attempted to put a telescope this large into space. The success of its most challenging deployment - the sunshield - is an incredible testament to the human ingenuity and engineering skill that will enable Webb to accomplish its science goals," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA's science mission directorate.