Floppy Material News Today

And so i have full confidence that its going to work. unfurling the sun shield is the most difficult part of this process. its enormous, the size of a tennis court. first, its two halves are lowered into position. then the booms are deployed. the operation involves 400 pulleys, 400 metres of cabling and more than 100 release mechanisms that have to fire at exactly the right time. finally, the material is pulled taut, and the five layers of the sun shield, each as thin as a human hair, separate. ...

But doing this in space will be nail—biting. its made of floppy material, it has to be held on to by a series of pins, which release one by one, pull it out, make it tight, release another bit, pull it out again. until slowly, over days, you pull out this tennis court sized object. so, for many people working on the project, thats where the real nerves are. the sun shield protects the telescope from the heat and light of the sun. the difference between the hot and cold sides is huge — 300 de...

We did not have any rocket big enough to launch it, fully deployed, so we had to build this telescope to be folded up to fit inside the rocket. this is a really difficult piece of engineering. nasa has never shied away from doing hard things so i have full confidence it will work. unfurling the sun shield is the most difficult part of this process. it is enormous, the size of a tennis court. first, it is two halves and they are lowered into position. then the booms are deployed. the operation in...

Is pulled taut, and the five layers of the sun shield, each as thin as a human hair, separate. the whole process has been rehearsed again and again on earth. but doing this in space will be nail—biting. its made of floppy material, it has to be held on to by a series of pins, which release one by one, pull it out, make it tight, release another bit, pull it out again. until slowly, over days, you pull out this tennis court sized object. so, for many people working on the project, thats where t...

The whole process has been rehearsed again and again on earth. but doing this in space will be nail—biting. its made of floppy material, it has to be held on to by a series of pins, which release one by one, pull it out, make it tight, release another bit, pull it out again. until slowly, over days, you pull out this tennis court sized object. so, for many people working on the project, thats where the real nerves are. the sun shield protects the telescope from the heat and light of the sun. t...

This is really, really difficult engineering. but, you know, nasa has never shied away from doing hard things. and so i have full confidence that its going to work. unfurling the sun shield is the most difficult part of this process. its enormous, the size of a tennis court. first, its two halves are lowered into position. then the booms are deployed. the operation involves 400 pulleys, 400 metres of cabling and more than 100 release mechanisms that have to fire at exactly the right time. finall...

Then the booms are deployed. the operation involves 400 pulleys, 400 metres of cabling and more than 100 release mechanisms that have to fire at exactly the right time. finally, the material is pulled taut, and the five layers of the sun shield, each as thin as a human hair, separate. the whole process has been rehearsed again and again on earth. but doing this in space will be nail—biting. its made of floppy material, it has to be held on to by a series of pins, which release one by one, pull...

Each as thin as a human hair, separate. the whole process has been rehearsed again and again on earth. but doing this in space will be nail—biting. its made of floppy material, it has to be held on to by a series of pins, which release one by one, pull it out, make it tight, release another bit, pull it out again. until slowly, over days, you pull out this tennis court sized object. so, for many people working on the project, thats where the real nerves are. the sun shield protects the telesco...