Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope
The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (shortened as Roman or the Roman Space Telescope, and formerly the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope or WFIRST) is a NASA infrared space telescope in development and scheduled to launch by May 2027.
Rendered model of the Roman Space Telescope | |
| Names | Roman Roman Space Telescope Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) Joint Dark Energy Mission (JDEM) |
|---|---|
| Mission type | Infrared space telescope |
| Operator | NASA / GSFC |
| Website | roman |
| Mission duration | 5 years (planned) |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Manufacturer | NASA Goddard Space Flight Center |
| Launch mass | 4,166 kg (9,184 lb) |
| Dry mass | 4,059 kg (8,949 lb) |
| Payload mass | 2,191 kg (4,830 lb) (telescope & instruments) |
| Power | 2.5 kW |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | October 2026 (contracted) – May 2027 (commitment) |
| Rocket | Falcon Heavy |
| Launch site | Kennedy LC-39A |
| Contractor | SpaceX |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Sun–Earth L2 orbit |
| Regime | Halo orbit |
| Perigee altitude | 188,420 km (117,080 mi) |
| Apogee altitude | 806,756 km (501,295 mi) |
| Main telescope | |
| Type | Three-mirror anastigmat |
| Diameter | 2.4 m (7.9 ft) |
| Focal ratio | f/7.9 |
| Wavelengths | 0.48–2.30 μm (Blue to Near-infrared) |
| Transponders | |
| Band | S-band (TT&C support) Ka-band (data acquisition) |
| Bandwidth | Few kbit/s duplex (S-band) 290 Mbit/s (Ka-band) |
| Instruments | |
| Wide-Field Instrument (WFI) Coronagraph Instrument (CGI) | |
The Roman Space Telescope is based on an existing 2.4 m (7.9 ft) wide field of view primary mirror and will carry two scientific instruments. The Wide-Field Instrument (WFI) is a 300.8-megapixel multi-band visible and near-infrared camera, providing a sharpness of images comparable to that achieved by the Hubble Space Telescope over a 0.28 square degree field of view, 100 times larger than imaging cameras on the Hubble. The Coronagraphic Instrument (CGI) is a high-contrast, small field of view camera and spectrometer covering visible and near-infrared wavelengths using novel starlight-suppression technology.
Stated objectives include a search for extra-solar planets using gravitational microlensing, along with probing the chronology of the universe and growth of cosmic structure, with the end goal of measuring the effects of dark energy, the consistency of general relativity, and the curvature of spacetime.
Roman was recommended in 2010 by the United States National Research Council Decadal Survey committee as the top priority for the next decade of astronomy. On 17 February 2016, it was approved for development and launch. On 20 May 2020, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine announced that the mission would be named the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope in recognition of the former NASA Chief of Astronomy's role in the field of astronomy. As of July 2022, Roman is scheduled to be launched on a Falcon Heavy rocket under a contract specifying readiness by October 2026 supporting a NASA launch commitment of May 2027.