Goddard Engineering and Technology Directorate

Key Portion of NASA’s Roman Space Telescope Clears Thermal Vacuum Test

A huge subsystem of the Roman observatory in a thermal vacuum chamber.
This photo shows half of the NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman observatory — the outer barrel assembly, deployable aperture cover, and test solar arrays — fully deployed in a thermal chamber at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., for environmental testing. Credit: NASA/Sydney Rohde

ETD Role: The Roman Space Telescope Outer Barrel Assembly/Solar Array Sunshield System/Deployable Aperture Assembly, known as OSD, completed Thermal Vacuum testing in the Building 10 Space Environment Simulator (SES) in April. Currently the OSD is in the Building 29 Spacecraft Systems Development and Integration Facility (SSDIF) cleanroom, where the test Solar Arrays are being replaced with flight units. Concurrently, the Roman Spacecraft Integrated Payload Assembly (SCIPA) is undergoing vibration testing in the Building 29 Large Vibration Test Facility (LVTF). Once SCIPA vibration is completed, it will prepare for its thermal vacuum test campaign, and the OSD will undergo its vibration test acceptance program.

One half of NASA’s nearly complete Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope just passed a lengthy test to ensure it will function properly in the space environment.

“This milestone tees us up to attach the flight solar array sun shield to the outer barrel assembly, and deployable aperture cover, which we’ll begin this month,” said Jack Marshall, who leads integration and testing for these elements at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “Then we’ll complete remaining environmental tests for the flight assembly before moving on to connect Roman’s two major assemblies and run the full observatory through testing, and then we’ll be ready to launch!”

Prior to this thermal testing, technicians integrated Roman’s deployable aperture cover, a visor-like sunshade, to the outer barrel assembly, which will house the telescope and instruments, in January, then added test solar panels in March. They moved this whole structure into the Space Environment Simulator test chamber at NASA Goddard in April.

There, it was subjected to the hot and cold temperatures it will experience in space. Next, technicians will join Roman’s flight solar panels to the outer barrel assembly and sunshade. Then the structure will undergo a suite of assessments, including a shake test to ensure it can withstand the vibrations experienced during launch…

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