As of this writing, the Webb Telescope is a little over one-third of the way to its orbit at Lagrange Point 2 (L2). It has successfully deployed both the forward and aft sunshield pallets, the first temperature data is being delivered, it has conducted its second of three adjustment thruster burns to keep it on its trajectory, and the Deployable Tower Assembly (DTA) has also executed its maneuver successfully.
The DTA raises the entire mirror assembly about two meters above the “bus” (the housing for the instruments of the spacecraft), allowing it to cool further, and giving it enough space between the mirrors and the bus to allow the sunshield to unfurl.
The entire assembly is tilted relative to the plane of Earth’s orbit with the sunshield facing towards the sun, such that, even unfurled, the sunshield is providing some thermal protection. The “hot” side of the spacecraft is around 50 degrees F., the cold side is -244 F.
The crucial complete unfurling of the sunshield will proceed over the next six days or so.
The spacecraft is now closing in on being 600,000 km from Earth, and traveling at 1.39 km per second, or around 5,004 km/hour (3109 mph).
