NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope team has completed the integration of the telescope and two instruments onto the instrument carrier, completing the Roman payload.
Roman Space Telescope Payload Integration Process
The agency said Thursday the team was initially able to incorporate the Coronagraph Instrument, an experimental technology for taking images of exoplanets. The engineers used masks and active mirrors to conceal the glare of the planets’ host stars to complete the integration.
They then added the Optical Telescope Assembly, including its primary mirror, nine additional mirrors and supporting structures and electronics. The telescope is designed to focus cosmic light and send it to Roman’s instruments enabling scientists to make precise measurements that can help in understanding dark energy, dark matter and planets outside the solar system.
Finally, the team was able to integrate the Wide Field Instrument, a 300-megapixel infrared camera that will enable scientists to view the universe, including exoplanets, distant stars, galaxies, black holes, dark matter and dark energy among other celestial bodies.
Focus will now turn to attaching the instrument carrier to the Roman spacecraft, which will be performed by the team at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The Roman mission’s deployable aperture cover, which will protect the telescope from unwanted light, is also being added to the telescope’s exoskeleton.
The observatory is expected to be completed by fall 2026 while the spacecraft carrying it to orbit will launch by May 2027.
