Roman Telescope’s Coronagraph Successfully Integrated by NASA

NASA Successfully Integrates Roman Coronagraph Instrument into Space Telescope Infrastructure

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope team has reached a significant milestone by successfully integrating the Roman Coronagraph Instrument into the Instrument Carrier, which is a crucial piece of infrastructure designed to hold the mission’s instruments. This integration marks an important step in the ongoing efforts to search for potentially habitable worlds and, ultimately, signs of life beyond Earth.

The integration occurred at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, where the space telescope project is currently under development. This achievement follows the coronagraph’s arrival at the center earlier this year from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California, where it was meticulously developed, built, and tested.

The Roman Coronagraph Instrument serves as a technology demonstration that will be launched aboard the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which is NASA’s next major astrophysics mission. This telescope boasts a field of view at least 100 times larger than that of the Hubble Space Telescope, and its mission will explore scientific mysteries including dark energy, exoplanets, and infrared astrophysics. The anticipated launch date for Roman is no later than May 2027.

The primary function of the mission’s coronagraph is to directly observe exoplanets, which are planets located outside our solar system. It achieves this by using an intricate set of masks and active mirrors to block out the bright glare from the planets’ host stars, thereby making the planets visible. As a technology demonstration, the coronagraph’s goal is to test this innovative technology in space and showcase its capabilities. The Roman Coronagraph is set to act as a technological stepping stone, paving the way for future advancements in missions like NASA’s proposed Habitable Worlds Observatory, which would be the first telescope specifically designed to search for life on exoplanets.

"In order to advance from our current capabilities to our aspirational goals, we need the Roman Coronagraph to demonstrate this technology," stated Rob Zellem, the deputy project scientist for communications for the Roman Space Telescope at NASA Goddard. "The lessons learned here will be applied to the next generation of NASA flagship missions, which will be explicitly designed to search for Earth-like planets."

A Significant Milestone in the Mission

The coronagraph has been successfully integrated into Roman’s Instrument Carrier, which is a large, grid-like structure situated between the space telescope’s primary mirror and spacecraft bus. This bus will transport the telescope into orbit and enable its functionality upon arrival in space. The spacecraft bus was fully assembled in September 2024.

The Instrument Carrier is designed to hold both the coronagraph and Roman’s Wide Field Instrument, which is the mission’s primary scientific tool. The integration of the Wide Field Instrument, along with the Roman telescope itself, is scheduled to occur later this year. "You can think of [the Instrument Carrier] as the backbone of the observatory, providing the interface for all components," explained Brandon Creager, the lead mechanical engineer for the Roman Coronagraph at JPL.

The integration process began months ago, with teams from across NASA collaborating to meticulously plan the maneuver. After the coronagraph arrived at NASA Goddard, teams conducted various tests to prepare it for integration with the spacecraft bus.

During the integration itself, the coronagraph, which is approximately the size and shape of a baby grand piano (about 5.5 feet or 1.7 meters across), was mounted onto the Instrument Carrier using a device called the Horizontal Integration Tool. Initially, an adapter developed at JPL was attached to the instrument, followed by the attachment of the Horizontal Integration Tool to the adapter. This tool functions as a movable counterweight, allowing the instrument to be suspended as it was carefully maneuvered into its final position within the Instrument Carrier. The Horizontal Integration Tool was then detached from the coronagraph. This tool has been previously utilized for integrations on NASA’s Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes.

As part of the integration, engineers also ensured that insulating layers were properly installed to maintain the coronagraph’s operational temperature in the cold vacuum of space. This insulation is crucial as the instrument is designed to work at room temperature and also serves as an additional barrier to block stray light that might otherwise interfere with observations.

Following this successful integration, engineers will carry out various checks and tests to ensure that all components are properly connected and correctly aligned. This is a critical step before proceeding to integrate the Wide Field Instrument and the telescope itself. The successful alignment of the Roman Coronagraph’s optics is essential for the instrument’s success in orbit.

Collaboration and Teamwork

This latest milestone in the mission is the result of extensive collaboration between numerous partners involved in the Roman project, particularly NASA Goddard and NASA JPL. "It’s truly rewarding to witness these teams coming together to build the Roman observatory. This is the outcome of countless teams, long hours, hard work, and dedication," said Liz Daly, the integrated payload assembly integration and test lead for Roman at Goddard.

"Support and trust were shared across both teams… we were all just one team," added Gasia Bedrosian, the integration and test lead for the Roman Coronagraph at JPL. Following the integration, "we celebrated our success together."

The Roman Coronagraph Instrument was designed and constructed at NASA JPL, which manages the instrument for NASA. Contributions came from international partners, including the European Space Agency (ESA), Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the French space agency CNES (Centre National d’Études Spatiales), and the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Germany. Caltech, located in Pasadena, California, manages NASA JPL for the agency. The Roman Science Support Center at Caltech/IPAC collaborates with NASA JPL on data management for the Coronagraph and the development of its operational commands.

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

For more detailed information, you can refer to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab website at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab.

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