NASA Validates Flight Design of Roman Mission in Milestone Review

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope has successfully completed its critical design review, marking the conclusion of all design and developmental engineering tasks. Julie McEnery, the Roman Space Telescope senior project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, expressed, “

After witnessing our extensive hardware testing and advanced modeling, an independent review panel has verified that the observatory we have crafted will indeed function.” McEnery added, “We have a clear understanding of its appearance and capabilities. Now that the foundational work is accomplished, the team is eager to progress with the construction and testing of the envisioned observatory.”

The Roman Space Telescope stands as a next-generation observatory poised to explore the infrared universe across vast expanses of space and time. With its substantial field of view and rapid survey speeds, astronomers anticipate observing thousands of planets, millions of galaxies, and billions of stars. Roman’s mission holds the potential to unveil numerous rocky worlds within and beyond regions where liquid water might exist. Moreover, the telescope’s observations will contribute to shedding light on two significant cosmic mysteries: dark energy and dark matter.

“With the conclusion of this review, we embark on an exciting phase where we will assemble and test the hardware for the Roman Space Telescope,” stated Jackie Townsend, deputy project manager for the Roman Space Telescope at Goddard. Townsend added, “Once all our flight hardware is prepared in 2024, we will conduct the System Integration Review and proceed to integrate the Roman observatory. Subsequently, rigorous testing in environments simulating launch and orbit conditions will ensure that Roman functions as designed.” The mission is scheduled for launch no later than May 2027.

Boasting the same sharp infrared resolution as Hubble but with a field of view 200 times larger, Roman is poised to undertake expansive cosmic surveys that would take centuries using Hubble. The telescope will systematically map stars, galaxies, and dark matter, delving into the formation and evolution of vast cosmic structures like clusters and superclusters of galaxies.

Additionally, Roman will investigate dark energy, believed to drive the accelerated expansion of the universe. Beyond its capacity to discover a diverse range of planets, including those orbiting far from their host stars—a realm largely elusive to previous planet-hunting missions—Roman will conduct various astrophysics surveys. These surveys will explore topics such as stars in nearby galaxies and seek out new asteroids, comets, and minor planets in the outer solar system. The insights garnered from Roman’s surveys will contribute to a deeper understanding of the universe and our position within it.

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