Spaceflight news

— JWST finishes deployment steps!

— Primary and Secondary mirror deployment (esmats.eu)

— Aft Deployed Instrument Radiator (PDF HT MMC: ttu-ir.tdl.org)

— Cross stitch (reddit.com/r/CrossStitch)

— Current estimate is 20 years worth of propellant (HT DeltaV: twitter.com/cbs_spacenews)

Short & Sweet

— Paragon acquires spacesuit manufacturer (spaceref.com)

— KSLV-2 failure is determined (spacenews.com)

— China’s robotic arm performs test on orbit (space.com)

Questions, comments, corrections

— From the intro: an expensive model (shop.blueorigin.com)

— Aaron Sawdey: Thermal power vs nuclear power (twitter.com/sawdey)

— Bill Boabab via email: JWST Aft Momentum Flap

— See also: no deployment cameras (nasa.gov)

— The observation strategy actually limits saturation by making observations in opposite attitudes (jwst-docs.stsci.edu)

— A not-incredibly related but often-cited paper is available (web.archive.org)

— A JWST science advisor gave an if-I-remember-correctly on this very question (HT deltaV: twitter.com/markmccaughrean)

This week in Spaceflight history

— 16 Jan, 1965: Gemini Simulated Off-The-Pad Ejection test 12 failure (PDF: ntrs.nasa.gov) (astronautix.com)

— Next week (1/18 - 1/24) in 1978: Remove the seats, life support systems, heat shield, parachute, but let’s keep the crew rating.