NASA's Roman Space Telescope Hardware Highlights: Fall 2023

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 telescope. 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.

In this video, covering the fall of 2023, the instrument carrier which will hold Roman’s two instruments is in Goddard’s largest clean room and has some attachment hardware added to it. The 5.6-foot (1.7-meter) wide high gain antenna, Roman’s main connection to Earth, is more fully integrated with the communication system, and engineers test it. The Lower Instrument Sun Shade is test deployed. It will sit behind the solar panels and shade the primary structure. The Solar Array Sun Shield panels are connected to a frame that mimics the spacecraft and their deployment is tested. During launch, they will be folded in and will permanently deploy in space. These panels are engineering test copies and do not have solar cells attached to them. They can be rigorously tested without putting the delicate solar cells at risk. The propulsion tanks, which will contain the hydrazine fuel for Roman’s thrusters, are integrated onto the propulsion deck, which holds the thrusters, visible with protective red covers. A star tracker is attached, or integrated, onto the primary structure. The star tracker is a special set of cameras that watch the stars to detect any movement by the spacecraft. Lastly, the reaction wheels are inspected and then carefully integrated onto the primary structure. The reaction wheels are six spinning disks that will use electricity and angular momentum to rapidly change where Roman is pointing in space and then hold it incredibly steady.

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 astrophysics mission. An infrared survey telescope with the same resolution as Hubble but at least 100 times the field of view, Roman is being built and tested at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Partners from around the globe are contributing to this effort.

Music credit: “Hyperion,” Laurent Dury [SACEM], Universal Production Music

Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Producer: Scott Wiessinger (KBR Wyle Services, LLC)
Videographers: Sophia Roberts (Advocates in Manpower Management, Inc.)
Scott Wiessinger (KBR Wyle Services, LLC)
Public affairs officer: Claire Andreoli (NASA/GSFC)
Editor: Scott Wiessinger (KBR Wyle Services, LLC)
Drone pilot: Francis Reddy (University of Maryland College Park)

This video can be freely shared and downloaded at https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14491. While the video in its entirety can be shared without permission, the music and some individual imagery may have been obtained through permission and may not be excised or remixed in other products. Specific details on such imagery may be found here: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14491. For more information on NASA’s media guidelines, visit https://nasa.gov/multimedia/guidelines.

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