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The spacecraft bus that will deliver NASA\u2019s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope to its orbit and enable it to function once there is now complete after years of construction, installation, and testing.<\/p>\n
Now that the spacecraft is assembled, engineers will begin working to integrate the observatory\u2019s other major components, including the science instruments and the telescope itself.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey call it a spacecraft bus for a reason \u2014 it gets the telescope to where it needs to be in space,\u201d said Jackie Townsend, the Roman deputy project manager at NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. \u201cBut it\u2019s really more like an RV because it has a whole assortment of functions that enable Roman to accomplish its scientific goals while out there too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those goals include surveying wide swaths of the universe to study things like: dark energy, a mysterious cosmic pressure thought to accelerate the universe\u2019s expansion; dark matter, invisible matter seen only via its gravitational influence; and exoplanets, worlds beyond our solar system.<\/p>\n
The mission\u2019s science wouldn\u2019t be possible without a spacecraft to transport the telescope, point the observatory toward different cosmic targets, provide power, communicate with Earth, control and store instrument data, and regulate Roman\u2019s temperature. Nearly 50 miles of electrical cabling are laced throughout the assembly to enable different parts of the observatory to communicate with each other.<\/p>\n
The spacecraft will also deploy several major elements that will be stowed for launch, including the solar panels, deployable aperture cover, lower instrument Sun shade, and high-gain antenna. It\u2019s also responsible for collecting and beaming down data, which is no small task for a space observatory that will survey the cosmos like Roman will.<\/p>\n
\u201cRoman will send back 1.4 terabytes of data per day, compared to about 50 to 60 gigabytes from the James Webb Space Telescope and three gigabytes from the Hubble Space Telescope,\u201d said Jason Hylan, the Roman observatory manager at NASA Goddard. \u201cWebb\u2019s daily downlink is roughly comparable to 13 hours of YouTube video at the highest quality while Roman\u2019s would amount to about 2 weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n
This milestone is the culmination of eight years of spacecraft design work, building, and testing by hundreds of people at Goddard.<\/p>\n
\u201cGoddard employees were the brains, designers, and executors. And they worked with vendors who supplied all the right parts,\u201d Townsend said. \u201cWe leaned on generations of expertise in the spacecraft arena to work around cost and schedule challenges that arose from supply chain issues and the pandemic.\u201d<\/p>\n
One time- and money-saving technique the team came up with was building a spacecraft mockup, called the structural verification unit. That allowed them to do two things at once: complete strength testing on the mockup, designed specifically for that purpose, while also assembling the actual spacecraft.<\/p>\n
The spacecraft\u2019s clever layout also allowed the team to adapt to changing schedules. It\u2019s designed to be modular, \u201cmore like Trivial Pursuit pie pieces than a nesting egg, where interior components are buried inside,\u201d Townsend said. \u201cThat\u2019s been a game-changer because you can\u2019t always count on things arriving in the order you planned or working perfectly right away with no tweaks.\u201d It also increased efficiency because people could work on different portions of the bus at the same time without interfering with each other.<\/p>\n
The slightly asymmetrical and hexagonal spacecraft bus is about 13 feet (4 meters) wide by 6.5 feet (2 meters) tall and weighs in at 8,400 pounds (3,800 kilograms).<\/p>\n
One reason it doesn\u2019t weigh more is that some components have been partially hollowed out. If you could peel back some of the spacecraft\u2019s panels, you\u2019d find superthin metallic honeycomb sandwiched between two slim layers of metal. And many of the components, such as the antenna dish, are made of strong yet lightweight composite materials.<\/p>\n
When the spacecraft bus was fully assembled, engineers conducted a comprehensive performance test. Prior to this, each component had been tested individually, but just like with a sports team, the whole unit has to perform well together.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe spacecraft passed the test, and now we\u2019re getting ready to install the payload \u2013\u2013 Roman\u2019s instruments and the telescope itself,\u201d said Missie Vess, a spacecraft systems engineer for Roman at NASA Goddard. \u201cNext year, we\u2019ll test these systems together and begin integrating the final components of the observatory, including the deployable aperture cover, outer barrel assembly, and solar panels. Then we\u2019ll finally have ourselves a complete observatory, on track for launch by May 2027.\u201d<\/p>\n
To virtually tour an interactive version of the telescope, visit:<\/p>\n
<\/strong><\/p>\n The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is managed at NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, with participation by NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Caltech\/IPAC in Southern California, the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, and a science team comprising scientists from various research institutions. The primary industrial partners are BAE Systems, Inc in Boulder, Colorado; L3Harris Technologies in Rochester, New York; and Teledyne Scientific & Imaging in Thousand Oaks, California.<\/p>\n By Ashley Balzer<\/em><\/strong> \u200b\u200bMedia Contact:<\/em><\/strong>
NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center<\/em><\/strong>, Greenbelt, Md.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
Claire Andreoli<\/em><\/strong>
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov<\/em><\/strong>
NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center<\/em><\/strong>, Greenbelt, Md.<\/em><\/strong>
301-286-1940<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n