NASA’s Focal Plane System, a key part of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, has arrived at Ball Aerospace for assembly into the Wide Field Instrument. This system, with 18 detectors and state-of-the-art electronics, will provide high-resolution images for studying dark matter, dark energy, and e
has 16.8 million tiny pixels, which will provide the mission with remarkable image resolution. Through these “eyes,” we will be able to peer through dust and across vast stretches of the cosmos, creating high-resolution panoramas of the universe.
In order to know how the universe will end, we must know what has happened to it so far. This is just one mystery NASA’s forthcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope mission will tackle as it explores the distant cosmos. The spacecraft’s giant camera, the Wide Field Instrument , will be fundamental to this exploration.
“Roman’s focal plane array is one of the biggest that has ever flown onboard a space-based observatory,” said Mary Walker, the Roman WFI manager at Goddard. “Its creation is the product of many years of innovation from a very dedicated team – one that is eagerly anticipating the incredible science Roman will yield.”
Once the FPS is installed in the spacecraft’s WFI – its camera – technicians will continue the build by integrating the instrument’s radiators., or minus 178 degrees,” said Greg Mosby, a research astrophysicist and Roman detector scientist at Goddard. “Roman’s detectors are so sensitive that nearby components in the Wide Field Instrument must also be cooled, otherwise their heat would saturate the detectors, effectively blinding the observatory.
After the radiators are installed, Roman’s camera will be complete and ready for thermal vacuum tests this summer. The team expects the entire WFI to return to Goddard in the spring of 2024, where it will ultimately be integrated into the rest of the observatory.
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