Photo credit: www.nasa.gov

Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Project Makes Significant Progress

The team behind NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope has reached a key milestone by successfully integrating the mission’s telescope and its two major instruments onto the instrument carrier. This achievement signifies the completion of the Roman payload, which is now set to be connected to its spacecraft at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

“We’re experiencing an exhilarating phase of mission preparation,” remarked Jody Dawson, a systems engineer for the Roman project at NASA Goddard. “All components are now assembled here at Goddard, progressing rapidly towards integration. We anticipate that the telescope and instruments will be synchronized with the spacecraft before the year concludes.”

The integration process began with the Coronagraph Instrument, a technological demonstration designed to capture images of exoplanets—celestial bodies located beyond our solar system. This instrument employs a sophisticated array of masks and active mirrors to mitigate the blinding brightness of the stars that surround these planets.

Next, engineers integrated the Optical Telescope Assembly, which features a primary mirror measuring 7.9 feet (2.4 meters) along with nine additional mirrors and their associated electronic structures. This telescope will capture cosmic light, channeling it to Roman’s instruments and thereby uncovering billions of celestial objects scattered throughout the universe. The Roman telescope is engineered to be exceptionally stable, enhancing its performance to be at least ten times more stable than the James Webb Space Telescope and a hundred times that of the Hubble Space Telescope. Such a level of stability will empower scientists to conduct measurements with unmatched precision, addressing major queries concerning dark energy, dark matter, and exoplanets.

Following the integration of these components, the Wide Field Instrument was then installed. This 300-megapixel infrared camera will provide a comprehensive view of the universe, allowing for detailed surveys that span vast distances. With its capabilities, scientists will explore a plethora of celestial phenomena such as remote exoplanets, distant stars, galaxies, black holes, and the mysteries surrounding dark energy and dark matter. Notably, Roman will capture large areas of the sky at speeds 1,000 times faster than Hubble, maintaining equivalent image quality.

“It’s easier to compile a list of astronomy subjects that Roman cannot investigate than to detail the numerous topics it will address,” emphasized Julie McEnery, senior project scientist for the Roman mission at NASA Goddard. “The capabilities of this instrument will truly transform astronomical research.”

The telescope and instruments are now securely mounted on Roman’s instrument carrier and meticulously aligned within the Goddard clean room, where the observatory’s construction is taking place. This assembly will soon be affixed to the Roman spacecraft, which will facilitate the telescope’s deployment into orbit.

Simultaneously, the mission’s deployable aperture cover, designed to shield the telescope from unwanted light, is being attached to the outer barrel assembly, which serves as a protective framework for the telescope.

“This has been a remarkable year for the team, and we eagerly anticipate what lies ahead!” stated Bear Witherspoon, a systems engineer for the Roman mission at NASA Goddard. “As we conduct various tests with the payload and spacecraft, our focus will also shift towards integrating solar panels into the assembly.”

This progress keeps the Roman telescope on schedule for completion by fall 2026, with a targeted launch no later than May 2027.

For those interested in exploring an interactive version of the telescope, please visit:

https://roman.gsfc.nasa.gov/interactive

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is managed at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, with contributions from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Caltech/IPAC in Southern California, the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, and a science team comprised of experts from various research institutions. Key industrial partners include BAE Systems Inc. in Boulder, Colorado, L3Harris Technologies in Rochester, New York, and Teledyne Scientific & Imaging in Thousand Oaks, California.

Source
www.nasa.gov