Northrop Grumman [NOC], prime contractor for the James Webb Space Telescope, announced Aug. 7 that it has finished installing a tennis-court-sized sunshield on the $8.8-billion spacecraft.

Designed by Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems in Redondo Beach, Calif., the sunshield will protect the telescope’s infrared sensors from extreme heat. It consists of five layers made of Kapton, a metallic-coated, advanced plastic produced by ManTech International [MANT] subsidiary NeXolve Corp. Each layer is as thin as a human hair.

The sunshield for the James Webb Space Telescope. (Photo courtesy of Northrop Grumman)
The sunshield for the James Webb Space Telescope. (Photo courtesy of Northrop Grumman)

“All five sunshield membranes have been installed and will be folded over the next few weeks,” said Paul Geithner, deputy project manager–technical for the Webb telescope at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

A joint project of NASA and the Canadian and European space agencies, Webb is scheduled to lift off in October 2018 aboard an Arianespace Ariane 5 rocket from the European Spaceport in French Guiana. Orbiting 1 million miles from Earth, the telescope is designed to search for Earth-like planets and increase knowledge of how the universe was formed.