James Webb Space Telescope's primary mirror unfolded

A photo of the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope after a successful deployment test of its primary mirror into the same configuration it will have when in space.

The iconic 6.5 metre wide mirror, consisting of a honeycomb-like pattern of 18 hexagonal, gold-coated mirror segments, will be unfolded as part of a complex deployment sequence once the observatory is in space and about to reach its operational orbit.

The test, which involved commanding the spacecraft's internal systems to fully unfold and secure the mirror, was performed in early March 2020 in a cleanroom at Northrop Grumman Space Systems in Redondo Beach, California. More information about the recent test and current status of the project are available in this NASA release.

The full deployment test sequence can be seen in this video.

The James Webb Space Telescope is an international project led by NASA with its partners, ESA and the Canadian Space Agency. As part of its contribution to the project, ESA provides the NIRSpec instrument, the Optical Bench Assembly of the MIRI instrument, the Ariane 5 launcher, and staff to support mission operations at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, USA.