NASA Engineers Complete the Core of the Roman Space Telescope Camera

On May 16th, 2023, NASA announced the completion of an important component of its next large space telescope project, the Nancy Grace Roman Telescope. Referred to as the “heart” of the Roman Telescope, this piece is the first essential component to be assembled before testing begins later this summer.

Concept art of the Nancy Grace Roman Telescope surrounded by galaxies. Credit: NASA/GSFC/SVS

The Nancy Grace Roman Telescope, named after NASA’s first Chief of Astronomy, Dr. Nancy Grace Roman, will be the next space telescope that NASA plans to launch. It will complement the work of both the Hubble and James Webb telescopes, as well as being optimized to hunt down exoplanets and further explore the infrared part of the electromagnetic spectrum.

According to NASA, the heart of the Roman Space Telescope has been successfully delivered to Ball Aerospace in Boulder, Colorado. It will be integrated into the Wide Field Instrument (WFI) to work as the core of Roman’s camera. This instrument will allow astronomers to discover new exoplanets, learn more about the early universe with infrared astronomy, and explore topics that are still mostly unknown, such as dark matter and dark energy.

A simulated view of millions of galaxies. The white square represents what Hubble can capture in a single snapshot, while the yellow squares show what the Roman Telescope is expected to do in the same amount of time. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and A. Yung