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Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope
Overview
Formerly known as WFIRST, the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope, the Roman Space Telescope is a NASA observatory designed to perform wide field imaging and surveys of the near infrared (NIR) sky. The current design of the mission makes use of an existing 2.4m telescope, which is the same size as the Hubble Space Telescope. The Roman Space Telescope is the top-ranked large space mission in the New Worlds, New Horizon Decadal Survey of Astronomy and Astrophysics. The Wide Field Instrument will provide a field of view of the sky that is 100 times larger than images provided by HST. The coronagraph will enable astronomers to detect and measure properties of planets in other solar systems.
Produced Videos
Full-form videos with narration and interviews
Spacecraft Hardware
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Roman's Instrument Carrier Arrives
The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope's Instrument Carrier arrives at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. The workers remove the grid-like structure from the truck container that brought it and move it into a clean tent. Once there, engineers remove the protective wrapping and inspect the carbon fiber struts. The Instrument Carrier sits between the primary mirror and spacecraft bus and will hold Roman's Wide Field Instrument and Coronagraph technology demonstration.Music: "Knowledge and Process" from Universal Production MusicComplete transcript available. ||
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Roman High-Gain Antenna Dish Integration
The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope’s high-gain antenna system has been integrated onto the spacecraft’s communications panel. The almost-6-foot dish is integral to Roman’s communications process; once Roman is launched, the dish will “beam down” data to ground systems across the globe.Music: "Chasing Rainbows" from Universal Production MusicComplete transcript available. || Same as above but edited as vertical video for social media. ||
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Installing the Roman Space Telescope's Nervous System
NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope team has begun integrating and testing the spacecraft’s electrical cabling, or harness, which enables different parts of the observatory to communicate with one another.The wire harness is so intricate that it was first built on a mock-up structure. The video shows it lifted from that first structure, using a custom-built basket called the harness transfer tool and placed into the primary structure that will fly with the observatory.Now, engineers will weave the harness through the flight structure in Goddard’s big clean room. This ongoing process will continue until most of the spacecraft components are assembled. In the meantime, the Goddard team will soon begin installing electronics boxes that will eventually provide power via the harness to all the spacecraft’s science instruments. ||
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Roman's Central Cylinder Enters the Cleanroom
Music Credits: By Design - Ben BeinyMicroworld - Benji Paul Merrison and Will SlaterComplete transcript available.<Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel. || The primary structure that will serve as the "bones" of NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope has moved into the big cleanroom at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The Spacecraft bus, Roman's primary support element, will now be built upon this skeletal framework. Roman will help unravel the secrets of dark energy and dark matter, search for exoplanets and explore many topics in infrared astrophysics. ||
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Roman's Primary Structure - B-Roll Footage
The primary structure that will serve as the “bones” of NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope has moved into the big clean room at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The spacecraft bus, Roman’s primary support element, will now be built upon this skeletal framework. Roman will help unravel the secrets of dark energy and dark matter, search for and image exoplanets, and explore many topics in infrared astrophysics.It’s partly made up of a central cylinder with a top deck that will support most of the observatory. Each of its six sides has a compartment that will house key electronics and other hardware needed to operate the observatory. Major spacecraft elements, such as its power, attitude control and propulsion systems, will be housed within the primary structure. The high-gain antenna will be installed beneath it, and the lowermost part of the primary structure will attach the spacecraft to the rocket during launch.The structure is mainly made of a special grade of aluminum that’s strong, yet lightweight. To reduce the weight even further, most of its exterior is partly hollowed out in a triangular pattern called an isogrid. Even though it’s large – about 14 feet (4.3 meters) long, 12 feet (3.7 meters) wide, and 6.5 feet (2 meters) tall – the primary structure weighs just 3,600 pounds (1,600 kilograms). ||
Spacecraft Animations
Information about the Roman Space Telescope spacecraft, its instruments, and technical details about the mission.
Universe
The Roman Space Telescope will study large-scale features of the universe to learn more about dark energy and dark matter.
Exoplanets
The Roman Space Telescope will advance our understanding of exoplanets, provide a comprehensive view of the formation, evolution, and physical properties of planetary systems, and lay the foundation for, the discovery and characterization of a habitable Earth-like planet orbiting a nearby star.
Still Images
Social
Presentation Resources
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Dominic Benford 2022 AAS Roman Hyperwall Talk
Static title card.Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center || Title card spread across hyperwall screens.Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center || Complete Nancy Grace Roman screen.Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center || Animation of Roman Space Telescope.To be used in combination with next two slides across hyperwall screens.Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center || Image of Nancy Grace Roman and tweet about her.Credit: NASA || Facts about Nancy Grace Roman.Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center ||
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Rebekah Hounsell 2022 AAS Roman Hyperwall Talk
Title slide.Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center || Animation of Roman Space Telescope with additional information.Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center || Comparison of Roman and Hubble's fields of view.Credit: L. Hustak (STScI) || Complete still version of dark energy screen.Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center || Top portion of dark energy screen.Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center || Side portion of dark energy screen.Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center || Animation showing a graph of universe expansion over time.Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center ||
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Expanding Our View (2022 STScI presentation)
Complete PowerPoint file with all slides and notes || Slide #1 – Onscreen before presentation begins and during introductionCredit: STScI, NASA || 2. Roman FOV compared with familiar Hubble Space TelescopeImage credits: Wide view: Composite image of the National Science Foundation’s 0.9-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory (Credit: T.A. Rector (NRAO/AUI/NSF and NOIRLab/NSF/AURA) and B.A. Wolpa (NOIRLab/NSF/AURA), and an image by amateur astronomer Liam Murphy. Center image: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)Image composition: by L. Hustak (STScI) ||
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Roman Interactive Stills
Right-side view of the Roman Space Telescope. Highlighted parts available under "Download Options" || The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope spacecraft interactive showcases many components of the observatory and its instruments, as well as their status and the partners responsible for their creation. This page houses all of the still images used in the interactive. Each set contains one un-highlighted image and additional images with different elements highlighted. Click the "Download Options" tab on any set to see all the options. These images are all on transparent backgrounds. ||
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WFIRST 2017 AAS Hyperwall Presentation
New hyperwall resources for Neil Gehrels' 2017 AAS talk. Most visuals are 5760x3240 and designed for a 3x3 hyperwall with 1920x1080 screens. || Static title card.Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center || || Animation listing a few key points about the mission and then detailing components of the spacecraft.Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center || Close-up of gravitational lensing cluster MACS J1206 as viewed by the ground-based Subaru telescope.Credit: NAOJ || Close-up of gravitational lensing cluster MACS J1206 as viewed by the Hubble Space Telescope.Credit: NASA, ESA, M. Postman and the CLASH team ||
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The Roman Space Telescope's Immense Data Volume
This infographic showcases the difference in data volume between the Nancy Grace Roman, Webb and Hubble space telescopes. Each day, Roman will send over 500 times more data back to Earth than Hubble.Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center || This infographic showcases the difference in data volume between the Nancy Grace Roman and Hubble space telescopes. Each day, Roman will send over 500 times more data back to Earth than Hubble.Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center || This simulated image illustrates the wide range of science enabled by Roman's extremely wide field of view and exquisite resolution. The purple squares, which all contain background imagery simulated using data from Hubble’s Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Survey (CANDELS) program, outline the area Roman can capture in a single observation. An orange square shows the field of view of Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 for comparison. While the CANDELS program took Hubble nearly 21 days to survey in near-infrared light, Roman’s large field of view and higher efficiency would allow it to survey the same area in less than half an hour. Top left: This view illustrates a region of the large nearby spiral galaxy M83. Top right: A hypothetical distant dwarf galaxy appears in this magnified view, demonstrating Roman’s ability to detect small, faint galaxies at large distances. Bottom left: This magnified view illustrates how Roman will be able to resolve bright stars even in the dense cores of globular star clusters. Bottom right: A zoom of the CANDELS-based background shows the density of high-redshift galaxies Roman will detect.Credit: Benjamin Williams, David Weinberg, Anil Seth, Eric Bell, Dave Sand, Dominic Benford, and the WINGS Science Investigation Team ||
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Hubble, Roman and Webb Space Telescopes Infographic
This infographic shows the complementary capabilities of select instruments on three of NASA's flagship missions: the Hubble Space Telescope and the currently under development Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope and James Webb Space Telescope. Hubble views the cosmos in infrared, visible and ultraviolet light, providing a more comprehensive, high-resolution view of individual objects. The Roman Space Telescope will expand on Hubble’s infrared observations specifically, using a much larger field of view to create enormous panoramas of the universe with the same high resolution. Webb will also conduct high-resolution infrared observations, peering across farther stretches of space with a narrower field of view.Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center ||