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Right here, NASA began
assembling the future

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of astronomy.

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Music

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A million miles from Earth,
NASA's James Webb Space


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Telescope will look into the
early universe for traces

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of infrared light.

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One side of the telescope will
face the endless reaches

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of deep space.

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A void characterized by cold so
extreme, it hover just above

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absolute zero.

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The other side faces the sun,
enabling the telescope's

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solar panels to drink in
sunlight, and provide power

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for all of Webb's systems.

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Seperating these two extremes
are 5 stunningly

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delicate layers, dividing
endless day from eternal night.

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The sunshield blocks heat from
the Sun, Earth, and Moon from

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Webb's mirrors an
instruments.

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Each of the layers is made out
of a material called kapton,

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that has been coated with
alluminum.

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The two hottest layers, the ones
closest to the Sun, have

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an additional layer consisting
of a special silicon that gives

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them that pinkish tint.

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The coating are then
electrically conductive,

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so that the layers of the
sunshield can be grounded to

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the rest of the telescope, and
not build up a static

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electric charge.

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The thickest layer of the
sunshield is 2000th of

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an inch or 500th of a milimeter
thick.

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A clue to the extraordinarily
delicate nature of this

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remarkable structure.

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In terms of surface area, each
of the layers is as large as a

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tennis court, creating a
gigantic challenge to get

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it into space.

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Music

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Engineers developed a release
system to carefully unfold and

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control the ultra fine sunshield
layers in space.

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Special stitching on each layer
called rip stops prevents the

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possibility of a tear spreading
across the sunshield layers.

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Music

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Once unfolded, Webb's sunshield
becomes a parasol, protecting

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precision instruments from
unwanted heat, and opening

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a pathway to the instruments to
cool to the super cold

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temperature of deep space.

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And this enables the pursuit of
some of the

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biggest scientific questions.

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Music