NASA Roman Space Telescope’s Antenna, ‘Visor’ Deployed
Roman’s antenna and visor-like sunshade have successfully deployed. Roman will downlink the highest data volume of any NASA astrophysics mission so far via its high-gain antenna, which measures 5.6 feet wide yet only weighs 24 pounds. It’s made of a carbon composite material that weighs very little but will still withstand the spacecraft’s wide temperature […] The post NASA Roman Space…
NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope has successfully deployed its antenna and visor-like sunshade. This high-gain antenna, measuring 5.6 feet wide and weighing only 24 pounds, is made of a lightweight carbon composite material. Despite its small size, the antenna is designed to withstand extreme temperature fluctuations during the spacecraft's journey across a million miles of space.
The antenna will transmit data back to Earth at a rate of up to 500 megabits per second, using two frequencies. One frequency will allow the spacecraft to receive commands, while the other will enable the transmission of high-volume data. The antenna deployment took about 4 minutes and concluded on August 31 at 2:03 p.m. EDT. Following the antenna deployment, the deployable aperture cover, a large sunshade designed to prevent unwanted light from entering the telescope, was released.
Deploying via three booms, the cover took approximately 8 minutes to unfurl and was successfully completed on September 1 at 6:05 a.m. EDT. Roman's next significant milestone is the activation of its Coronagraph Instrument, followed by the Wide Field Instrument. Both instruments will undergo a series of calibrations and tests throughout the spacecraft's three-month commissioning period.
NASA anticipates releasing the telescope's first images by early 2027. For more information about Roman's commissioning process, visit NASA's Roman Commissioning page.
Written by urgent.news from NASA Science's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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