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NASA NTRS · 20260005923

The Roman Space Telescope Optical System: Status, Test, and Verification Update

Matthew Bolcar·John Hagopian·Bente Eegholm·Matthew Bergkoetter·Guangjun Gao·Patricia Lyons·Scott Rohrbach·Alice Liu·Tyler Groff·Alden Jurling·Joe Howard·Margaret Dominguez·Catherine Marx·Olha Asmolova·John Crooke·Boris Glebov·Joe Hayden·Samantha Herath·Mingjun Li·Tim Reichard·Drew Siedel·Greg Wenzel·Brian Kern·Mark Colavita·Gary Kuan·Kaitlyn Summey·Nick Collins·Nick Bond
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Abstract

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (“Roman”) is NASA’s next flagship observatory. Launching in 2026, Roman will explore the nature of dark energy as well as expand the census of exoplanets in our galaxy via microlensing. Roman’s large field of view, agile survey capabilities, and excellent stability enable these scientific objectives, yet present unique challenges for the design, test, and verification of its optical system. Roman recently completed a comprehensive thermal vacuum test of the Spacecraft bus + Integrated Payload Assembly (SCIPA), followed by integrating the Outer Barrel Assembly (OBA), Solar Array Sunshield (SASS), and Deployable Aperture Cover (DAC) with SCIPA to complete the Observatory. This paper will present an overview of the thermal vacuum optical testing as well as a status of the optical system performance and verification.

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Matthew Bolcar, John Hagopian, Bente Eegholm, Matthew Bergkoetter, Guangjun Gao, Patricia Lyons, Scott Rohrbach, Alice Liu, Tyler Groff, Alden Jurling, Joe Howard, Margaret Dominguez, Catherine Marx, Olha Asmolova, John Crooke, Boris Glebov, Joe Hayden, Samantha Herath, Mingjun Li, Tim Reichard, Drew Siedel, Greg Wenzel, Brian Kern, Mark Colavita, Gary Kuan, Kaitlyn Summey, Nick Collins, Nick Bond. The Roman Space Telescope Optical System: Status, Test, and Verification Update. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20260005923

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