Roman Quarterly Hardware Highlights

This video, covering the spring of 2024, opens with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center’s integration and testing complex. The flight versions of the Solar Array Sun Shield panels are unpacked in Goddard’s largest clean room and placed into special racks to safely hold them.  Multiple copies of hardware often exist, most for testing purposes; flight hardware is the version that will actually fly in space on the final spacecraft.  The flight solar panelsarrays are the only ones covered with delicate solar cells. The Outer Barrel Assembly, also flight hardware, arrives at Goddard and is unpacked from its shipping container.  This structure will surround and protect Roman’s primary mirror from stray light.  Fitted to the front of the spacecraft, the Deployable Aperture Cover is another element of light protection.  It will cover the aperture during launch and then deploy in space to shield the aperture from sunlight. To ensure that it is ready, engineers deploy it in a large thermal vacuum chamber.  Once the hardware is deployed, the chamber will evacuates all the air and generates high and low temperature extremes to simulate the conditions in space.  The Wide Field Instrument is Roman’s primary instrument and will capture enormous images of distant objects.  Assembled by BAE Systems in Colorado, it undergoes environmental testing at their facilities, proving that it can function in space, before traveling to Goddard for integration with the rest of the spacecraft. The Coronagraph Instrument, a technology demonstration that will be able to directly image planets outside our solar system, was developed and built at JPL in California.  After comprehensive testing there, JPL carefully transportsed the Coronagraph across the country to Goddard, where a team of JPL and Goddard engineers carefully unpacked it and performed a thorough inspection as well as continued testing.  Finally, 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.  The assembly was built at L3Harris in New York and went through testing at their facilities in preparation for sending it to Goddard.  The Optical Telescope Assembly will be the last major piece of hardware to arrive at Goddard this fall.Music credit: “Aether,” Espen Haagensli [TONO], Universal Production MusicWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available.

In this video, covering the winter of 2024, Goddard’s high-capacity centrifuge goes through tests and then performs tests of the instrument carrier which will hold Roman’s two instruments. The centrifuge is 120 feet across and can spin at over 30 rpm. For the test, the instrument carrier holds test masses for the Wide Field Instrument and the Coronagraph instrument technology demonstration. The 5.6-foot (1.7-meter) wide dish on the high gain antenna system, Roman’s main connection to Earth, goes through a test deployment in Goddard’s high bay clean room. The Solar Array Sun Shield test panels are lowered into the Space Environment Simulator to undergo weeks of vacuum and temperature testing. The chamber can create a near-perfect vacuum and subject hardware to temperatures from minus 310° Fahrenheit to 302° F. The propulsion system, consisting of fuel tanks and 24 thrusters, is integrated with the primary structure. The process begins by placing a support structure called the pantheon into the clean room. The primary structure is lifted onto that, giving engineers access underneath it. Then cranes lift the propulsion system onto a nearby lift and it is pushed underneath. As the lift slowly raises the propulsion system, pillars holding small attitude control thrusters slide precisely into grooves in the primary structure. Everything is bolted together and then the single unit is lifted back off the pantheon.Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight CenterMusic: “Futureshapers,” David Klemencz [BMI], Universal Production MusicWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available.

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.Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight CenterMusic: “Hyperion,” Laurent Dury [SACEM], Universal Production MusicWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available.

In this video, covering the summer of 2023, the focal plane array, which contains Roman’s 18 detectors, appears in the clean room. This massive array will be the heart of the Wide Field Instrument, Roman’s primary camera for observing the universe. The instrument carrier arrives at Goddard and is cleaned and inspected. The instrument carrier will sit between the primary structure and primary mirror and will hold the Wide Field Instrument and Coronagraph Instrument technology demonstration. The high gain antenna will be Roman’s main communication with Earth. This 5.6-foot (1.7-meter) wide dish is carefully attached to an arm connected to the back of the spacecraft. A copy of the Deployable Aperture Cover goes through testing. It sits at the front of the spacecraft. During launch it will cover and protect the telescope optics. After launch it will deploy to shade them. The spacecraft harness is lowered into the primary structure. The harness is 45 miles of intricate wiring that connects all Roman’s systems to each other providing communication and power throughout the spacecraft.Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight CenterMusic: “Unseen,” David Husband [PRS], Universal Production MusicWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available.