Why do the optics tuning and alignments take so long? I understand that the telescope has to chill and reach thermal equilibrium to avoid thermal distortion, but my back of the envelope heat transfer calculations suggest that should take days to a few weeks, not months. Maybe they are looking for "more 9s" closer to equilibrium before doing the fine alignments and taking first data? Shedding the last few degrees will be a slow process.
From my knowledge how it works:
18 mirror segments on main mirror and 1 segment(?) on secondary mirror
Each segment on main mirror have 6 servos on corners + 1 servo to change shape/bending for segment.
Secondary mirror have 6 servos/
Calibration process ( program in GWBASIC ):
10) Coll down sensors
20) Point JWST to "calibration star".
30) Take photo.
40) Download image.
50) Analyse.
60) Send tuning commands to servo.
70) Repeat (goto 20) until all segments aligned.
80) L2 insert burn
90) More sensor chilling
100) Imaging (detector) Sensor test and calibration
110) More mirror aligment.
Couterquestion: why origami deployment took 2 weeks? You can activate all deployment mechanisms and do it in 16 hours...