Roman Hardware Highlights

This video, covering the first half of 2025, opens with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center’s SES (Space Environment Simulator.) This thermal vacuum chamber can simulate the vacuum of space and the wide temperature range that Roman will experience there: from -310° Fahrenheit (-190° C) to 302° Fahrenheit (150° C). The test versions of the Solar Array Sun Shield panels are installed onto the Outer Barrel Assembly inside Goddard’s largest clean room in preparation for testing. Multiple copies of hardware often exist, typically for testing purposes; flight hardware is the version that will actually fly in space on the final spacecraft. The flight solar panels are the only ones covered with delicate solar cells. The Outer Barrel Assembly, which is flight hardware, will protect and shade the primary mirror. With the solar panels and a deployable front cover that functions like a visor, it forms the outer, protective section of the spacecraft. Roman's telescope section is covered in a protective tent and pushed outside of the clean room using pressurized air to float it like a hovercraft. Technicians and engineers lift it onto one of two shaker tables where it undergoes vibration testing. Roman undergoes a series of tests along each axis with increasing intensity to simulate components of launch stress. For the most intense tests of each axis, the spacecraft systems are powered up to ensure that everything can handle the stress. Finally, Roman’s outer section is lowered over a structure made to simulate the telescope portion. Then it is covered in a protective tent, pushed out of the clean room, and crane-lifted into the SES chamber. With the tent around it, it’s a very tight fit and requires several rotations to clear hardware in the chamber. The tent is lifted out and the chamber closed. This outer section underwent around a month of testing at low pressure and different temperatures. Because the main tent was getting ready for Roman’s other section, a more temporary covering protected the outer section on the way out, and then technicians pushed it, uncovered, the last stretch into the clean room, giving the best-possible view of it at the end. Music credit: “Sound of Progress,” Jonathan Elias and Sarah Trevino [ASCAP], Universal Production Music Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available.

This video, covering the summer and fall of 2024, opens with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center’s Space Environment Simulator. This thermal vacuum chamber is used to test Roman’s Instrument Carrier, which will hold and connect the instruments and mirror. Once the hardware is in place, the chamber evacuates the air and generates high and low temperature extremes to simulate the conditions in space. Workers carefully deploy Roman’s High-Gain Antenna to ensure that it will operate as expected. The 5.6-foot (1.7-meter) dish is Roman’s primary means of communication and will be responsible for sending roughly 1.4 terabytes of data back to Earth each day. The Outer Barrel Assembly is tested on Goddard’s 120-foot-diameter centrifuge. This structure will surround and protect Roman’s primary mirror from stray light. Engineers add weights to simulate additional hardware and tip the Outer Barrel Assembly at different angles over multiple spins to certify that it can withstand all the forces it will experience over its life. The Wide Field Instrument (WFI), Roman’s primary science tool arrives at Goddard after testing at BAE Systems where it was built. Workers push a sealed crate into the clean room where they can remove the WFI and test it to ensure it made the trip safely. 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. It was built and tested at L3Harris and is the last major piece of hardware to arrive at Goddard. Its special shipping container will also house the completed Roman telescope when it leaves for launch. The Coronagraph Instrument is the first major component integrated, or connected, to the Instrument Carrier. The Coronagraph is a technology demonstration capable of directly image planets outside our solar system, was developed and built at JPL in California. The Optical Telescope Assembly is the next piece integrated. It has to be carefully aligned with the Coronagraph so that light from the mirrors can perfectly pass through an opening in the Coronagraph. First comes mechanical integration, where the hardware is physically connected, and then comes electrical integration where all the various electrical systems are hooked up. The final piece is the Wide Field Instrument, which had to go last because of its size and position. Engineers carefully align it with an opening in the Optical Telescope Assembly so light can pass from one to the other. With the addition of this final element, the instruments, mirrors, and carrier are now called the Integrated Payload Assembly. A very large team of engineers and technical crew lift the Integrated Payload Assembly over the Spacecraft Bus and lower it into place. Mechanical integration takes several hours; electrical integration will take days. Now unified, the heart of the Roman spacecraft is complete. Music credit: “Distinction,” Max Cameron Concors [ASCAP], Universal Production Music Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available.

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.