In June, technicians at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center began the crucial process of installing the Solar Array Sun Shield aboard the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. This shield comprises six panels covered in solar cells that will provide the observatory with power while keeping its instruments cool throughout its mission. This marked the completion of the telescope’s outer section, which was followed by thermal vacuum and electronic systems testing of its core section to ensure that the observatory can survive in the harsh environment of space.
In recent news, NASA announced that the technicians had finished installing the two panels that make up the Lower Instrument Sun Shade on Roman’s inner segment. Along with the observatory’s Solar Array Sun Shield and Deployable Aperture Cover (aka. the “visor”), the Lower Instrument Sun Shade will be critical as the mission explores the infrared Universe. Like Webb’s sunshield, Roman’s Sun Shades and Aperture Cover will protect its instruments from heat and light from the Sun that would interfere with its ability to detect faint signals from space.
Designed and engineered at NASA Goddard, each sunshade flap measures 2.1 meters in length and width (7 by 7 feet) and 7.6 centimeters (3 inches) thick. “They’re basically giant aluminum sandwiches, with metal sheets as thin as a credit card on the top and bottom and the central portion made up of a honeycomb structure,” said Conrad Mason, an aerospace engineer at NASA Goddard. The panel design and material make the panels stiff and lightweight, while specialized polymer film blankets will temper heat transfer from the Sun-facing side to the back.
Said Matthew Stephens, an aerospace engineer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center:
This shield is like an extremely strong sunblock for Roman’s sensitive instruments, protecting them from heat and light from the Sun that would otherwise overwhelm our ability to detect faint signals from space. The deploying mechanisms have dampers that work like soft-close hinges for drawers or cabinets, so the panels won’t slam open and rattle the observatory. They each take about two minutes to move into their final positions. This is the very first system that Roman will deploy in space after the spacecraft separates from the launch vehicle.
Now that the inner segment is fully assembled, it will undergo a 70-day thermal vacuum test, during which the team will test the full functionality of the telescope and its instruments under simulated space conditions. This will be followed by the integration of the inner and outer segments by November, with a launch expected to happen between Fall 2026 and May 2027. The RST is named in honor of Nancy Grace Roman, NASA’s first Chief of Astronomy in the Office of Space Science and an early proponent of space telescopes. As Hubble’s direct successor, this earned the observatory the nickname “mother of the Hubble Space Telescope.”
Once operational, Roman will use its thermal optics to investigate exoplanets, planet-forming disks, red dwarfs, brown dwarfs, and other “unseen” objects in the Universe. It will also observe distant galaxies to measure the rate at which the Universe has expanded over time (the Hubble Constant). It is hoped that this will shed light on the most pressing mysteries in astronomy and cosmology, including Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and the “Hubble Tension.”
Further Reading: NASA