Nancy Grace Roman Telescope

Solar Panels for NASA’s Roman Space Telescope Pass Key Tests [Aug 26]

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope’s Solar Array Sun Shield has successfully completed recent tests, signaling that the assembly is on track to be completed on schedule. The panels are designed to power and shade the observatory, enabling all the mission’s observations and helping keep the instruments cool.

The Roman team has two sets of these panels –– one that will fly aboard the observatory and another as a test structure, used specifically for preliminary assessments.

Engineers at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, evaluated the test version in a thermal vacuum chamber, which simulates the hot and cold temperatures and low-pressure environment the flight panels will experience in space. Since the panels will be stowed for launch, the team practiced deploying them in space-like conditions.

Meanwhile, a vendor built up the flight version by fitting the panels with solar cells. After delivery to Goddard, technicians tested the solar cells by flashing the panels with a bright light that simulates the Sun.

“We save a significant amount of time and money by using two versions of the panels, because we can do a lot of preliminary tests on a spare while moving further in the process with the flight version,” said Jack Marshall, the Solar Array Sun Shield lead at NASA Goddard. “It streamlines the process and also avoids risking damage to the panels that will go on the observatory, should testing reveal a flaw.”

Next spring, the flight version of the Solar Array Sun Shield will be installed on the Roman spacecraft. Then, the whole spacecraft will go through thorough testing to ensure it will hold up during launch and perform as expected in space.
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View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJKjpYKJwk4



Oct 2, 2024
In September 2024, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope passed a key milestone and was approved for the next stage of construction. Work on the main systems that will make up the final spacecraft is finishing, and the team at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center is ready to begin integration, the process of connecting them together. This video celebrates the effort to reach the final stages of assembly.

To learn more about all these systems and where they fit into Roman, visit https://roman.gsfc.nasa.gov/interactive/


Launching no later than May 2027, Roman is NASA’s next flagship mission. An infrared survey telescope with the same resolution as Hubble, but 100 times the field of view, Roman is being built and tested at NASA’s Goddard Spaceflight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Partners from across the country are contributing to this effort.

Music credit: “The Call,” Torsti Juhani Spoof [BMI] Universal Production Music

Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Producer: Scott Wiessinger (eMITS)
Videographers: Sophia Roberts (eMITS)
Scott Wiessinger (eMITS)
Jolearra Tshiteya (ASRC Federal)
Public affairs officer: Claire Andreoli (NASA/GSFC)
Editor: Scott Wiessinger (eMITS)
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Excellent news for the Roman Space Telescope, even better that it remains on cost and schedule. :cool::D
 
NASA Joins Telescope, Instruments to Roman Spacecraft [Jan 8]

Technicians have successfully integrated NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope’s payload – the telescope, instrument carrier, and two instruments – to the spacecraft that will deliver the observatory to its place in space and enable it to function while there.

“With this incredible milestone, Roman remains on track for launch, and we’re a big step closer to unveiling the cosmos as never before,” said Mark Clampin, acting deputy associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “It’s been fantastic to watch the team’s progress throughout the integration phase. I look forward to Roman’s transformative observations.”

The newly joined space hardware will now undergo extensive testing. The first test will ensure each major element operates as designed when integrated with the rest of the observatory and establish the hardware’s combined performance. Then environmental tests will subject the payload to the electromagnetic, vibration, and thermal vacuum environments it will experience during launch and on-orbit operations. These tests will ensure the hardware and the launch vehicle will not interfere with each other when operating, verify the communications antennas won’t create electromagnetic interference with other observatory hardware, shake the assembly to make sure it will survive extreme vibration during launch, assess its performance across its expected range of operating temperatures, and make sure the instruments and mirrors are properly optically aligned.

Meanwhile, Roman’s deployable aperture cover will be integrated with the outer barrel assembly, and then the solar panels will be added before spring. Then the structure will be joined to the payload and spacecraft this fall.

The Roman mission remains on track for completion by fall 2026 and launch no later than May 2027.
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b]NASA's Roman Space Telescope Hardware Highlights: Summer/Fall 2024[/b]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZ_knAEx9xg


eb 25, 2025
Every day, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope moves closer to completion. This video highlights some of the important hardware milestones from part of this journey. Components and systems are built separately, tested, and then integrated with larger parts of the spacecraft to carefully build the full observatory. Roman’s foundation is the primary structure, or spacecraft bus, which houses electronics and support systems. Like the chassis of a car, everything is built up from this aluminum hexagon.

This video, covering the summer and fall of 2024, opens with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center’s Space Environment Simulator. This thermal vacuum chamber is used to test Roman’s Instrument Carrier, which will hold and connect the instruments and mirror. Once the hardware is in place, the chamber evacuates the air and generates high and low temperature extremes to simulate the conditions in space.

Workers carefully deploy Roman’s High-Gain Antenna to ensure that it will operate as expected. The 5.6-foot (1.7-meter) dish is Roman’s primary means of communication and will be responsible for sending roughly 1.4 terabytes of data back to Earth each day.

The Outer Barrel Assembly is tested on Goddard’s 120-foot-diameter centrifuge. This structure will surround and protect Roman’s primary mirror from stray light. Engineers add weights to simulate additional hardware and tip the Outer Barrel Assembly at different angles over multiple spins to certify that it can withstand all the forces it will experience over its life.

The Wide Field Instrument (WFI), Roman’s primary science tool, arrives at Goddard after testing at BAE Systems where it was built. Workers push a sealed crate into the clean room where they can remove the WFI and test it to ensure it made the trip safely. The Optical Telescope Assembly is a combination of the 7.9-foot (2.4-meter) primary mirror, the smaller secondary mirror, and many additional optical elements designed to direct the focused beam of light to Roman’s two instruments. It was built and tested at L3Harris and is the last major piece of hardware to arrive at Goddard.

Its special shipping container will also house the completed Roman telescope when it leaves for launch. The Coronagraph Instrument is the first major component integrated, or connected, to the Instrument Carrier. The Coronagraph is a technology demonstration capable of directly image planets outside our solar system, was developed and built at JPL in California. The Optical Telescope Assembly is the next piece integrated. It has to be carefully aligned with the Coronagraph so that light from the mirrors can perfectly pass through an opening in the Coronagraph.

First comes mechanical integration, where the hardware is physically connected, and then comes electrical integration where all the various electrical systems are hooked up.

The final piece is the Wide Field Instrument, which had to go last because of its size and position. Engineers carefully align it with an opening in the Optical Telescope Assembly so light can pass from one to the other. With the addition of this final element, the instruments, mirrors, and carrier are now called the Integrated Payload Assembly.

A very large team of engineers and technical crew lift the Integrated Payload Assembly over the Spacecraft Bus and lower it into place. Mechanical integration takes several hours; electrical integration will take days. Now unified, the heart of the Roman spacecraft is complete.

To learn more about all these systems and where they fit into Roman, visit https://roman.gsfc.nasa.gov/interactive/
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