Engineering Marvel

Marc Roth, a senior Northrop Grumman engineer on Webb oversees important mechanical aspects that deploy the sunshield, layer by layer, into the same position it will take when it is a million miles from Earth. A particular function that required epic proportions of ingenuity: ensuring the sunshield unfolds precisely to the right position to protect the telescopes mirror and instruments and block light emanating from the sun, Earth and moon. For the telescope to observe the infrared light from distant objects, it has to stay cold, as in 380 degrees Fahrenheit below zero kind of cold.

Roth and his team oversee a pulley system that tugs the five membrane layers of the sunshield into its full form. The layers will initially be stacked on top of one another, squeezing inside the 16-foot fairing of the Ariane 5 rocket along with the attached mirror. But once on its journey, motors will slowly push out booms that will gently spread the shield's layers into a kind of parasol. This high-tech umbrella will provide thermal isolation to keep the telescope side of Webb unbearably — but necessarily — cold by reflecting away heat from the sun, Earth and moon. (The sunny side of the telescope will experience temperatures as high as 230 degrees F.)

"They'll be rewriting textbooks and including new insights based on the data collected from this telescope."

— Marc Roth, Senior Northrop Grumman Engineer