James Webb Space Telescope Antenna Deployed Successfully

NASA has confirmed that the James Webb Space Telescope has successfully deployed its antenna as of December 26. The antenna was successfully deployed only a day after the telescope launched.

With the successful deployment of the gimbaled antenna assembly, Webb will beam data from its observations back to Earth. The intent is a critical piece of equipment, and without it, the satellite would be unable to send its data home.

NASA wrote in a mission update, “This antenna will be used to send at least 28.6 Gbytes of science data down from the observatory, twice a day. The team has now released and tested the motion of the antenna assembly the entire process took about one hour.”

The telescope’s mission is to seek out light from the first galaxies born in the universe. Webb will also be used to search for exoplanets and learn more about our solar system.