NASA has unveiled a groundbreaking spacecraft that will transport and support the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, paving the way for groundbreaking discoveries about dark energy, dark matter, and exoplanets.
A Flexible Platform: The Secret to the Roman Space Telescope’s Success
After years of construction, installation and testing, the spacecraft bus that will deliver NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope to orbit is now complete. The vehicle in the photo is more than just a bus that gets the telescope from A to B. The mission has another name for it: RV (you know, like a recreational vehicle).
The spacecraft will enable the Roman to achieve its ambitious scientific goals, said Jackie Townsend, a NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland project manager for the Roman deputy. From providing power and regulating its temperature, all the way to (and this is key) communication with Earth, and handling a mountainous amount of data that the telescope will produce, this spacecraft is really the unsung hero of JWST.
Some ground-breaking discoveries lie ahead
The scientific goals of the Roman Space Telescope are extraordinary in their own right. The telescope, designed to survey large regions of the universe with infrared cameras and spectrographs, will focus on questions related to three areas: dark energy, dark matter and exoplanets – some of the most compelling scientific mysteries in contemporary astrophysics.
The Roman Space Telescope will also home in on dark energy, a mysterious cosmic pressure that is the leading candidate to explain how and why the cosmos’ expansion is speeding up. The same time-lapse snapshots will be used to image dark matter, the invisible material that forms most of the universe but can only be inferred by its gravity.
Moreover, it will study a wide range of exoplanets, or planets outside our solar system, to give us a better understanding of how planetary systems form and evolve. None of these exciting findings would be possible without the hardworking spacecraft that will carry and nurture the Roman Space Telescope during its mission.
Conclusion
A major hurdle was cleared for the NASA’s wide-field infrared observatory when the spacecraft to carry and provide a telescope with logistical support throughout its mission passed its design review, a vital preparation point before integration of the new observatory begins. The spacecraft will be the vital connection – the communications link – between the telescope and Earth, and will usher in a new level of design that allows the telescope to achieve its most ambitious science goals: searching for an understanding dark energy, dark matter, and exoplanets. This beautiful spacecraft typifies the skill and hard work of NASA engineers who have served so well to ensure that the mission is delivered safely.
