NASA completes photo voltaic panel set up for Roman House Telescope
by Clarence Oxford
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jul 14, 2025
Technicians accomplished the set up of photo voltaic panels on NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman House Telescope on June 14 and 16, marking one of many remaining phases of observatory meeting. The six-panel system, referred to as the Photo voltaic Array Solar Protect, will each energy the spacecraft and defend its devices from warmth.
“With the panels in place, the observatory is about 90% full,” stated Jack Marshall, who leads the Photo voltaic Array Solar Protect effort at NASA’s Goddard House Flight Middle. “We simply want to attach two main elements earlier than we start a full collection of exams.” Marshall confirmed that the workforce is concentrating on a launch as early as fall 2026, nicely forward of the no-later-than Might 2027 deadline.
The system contains two fastened central panels and 4 others that may deploy in orbit to kind an entire array. These will stay Solar-facing all through the mission, constantly supplying energy to the observatory’s electronics and shielding delicate devices from photo voltaic warmth. That is significantly very important for the Roman Telescope’s infrared capabilities, as extra heat would overwhelm its detectors.
“Now that the panels have been put in, the outer portion of the Roman observatory is full,” stated mechanical engineer Aaron Vigil at Goddard. Within the coming months, groups will confirm panel deployment and check the observatory’s deployable aperture cowl, or visor.
Concurrently, engineers are testing the spacecraft’s core electronics and subjecting the system to thermal vacuum situations to make sure it performs below the intense temperatures of house.
The venture stays on schedule to combine Roman’s inside and outer modules by November, with a totally assembled observatory prepared for remaining pre-launch evaluations by 12 months’s finish.
Associated Hyperlinks
Roman Space Telescope
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