Nancy Grace Roman Telescope Sell Sheet

NANCY GRACE ROMAN SPACE TELESCOPE

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is designed to provide data that might settle some of the most enduring mysteries of the universe – dark energy, dark matter, exoplanets and undiscovered galaxies.

ROMAN SPACE TELESCOPE MISSION L3HARRIS’ ROLE ROMAN DETAILS When it launches in the mid-2020s on a L3Harris is responsible for some of the > Mission duration is approximately mission planned for five years, Roman most important tasks to create the tele- five years will survey wide areas of space with a scope, including refinishing the primary > Expected launch in the mid-2020s field of view much larger than the Hubble mirror. L3Harris is creating hardware Space Telescope or the James Webb to accommodate and interact with the > Primary mirror diameter Space Telescope. Those predecessors two instruments on the telescope, the 2.4 meters take detailed views of smaller areas of Wide Field Instrument for the mission’s > Two main instruments – Wide Field space, more like a zoomed-in view to core science goals and the Coronagraph Instrument for scientific discovery Roman’s panoramic. Instrument for future exoplanet direct- and Coronagraph Instrument to Roman will observe billions of galaxies, imaging technology development. demonstrate advanced technology detailing supernovae and other cosmic L3Harris also conducted the successful > Areas of study include dark phenomena. The data will fuel discoveries test of the primary mirror to ensure it energy, dark matter, exoplanets on dark energy and dark matter, two functions in the very cold temperatures and new galaxies mysteries of the universe that science found in space. cannot fully explain. The telescope will also study exoplanets – planets outside The telescope was initially constructed of our solar system – with unprecedented for another mission, but was transferred detail. Roman will monitor 100 million to NASA. L3Harris has worked with NASA stars for hundreds of days and is expected and other partners to turn the hard- to discover about 2,500 new planets. ware into a powerful astrophysics and Included in that number are rocky planets universe-exploration tool. Using an exist- in regions that may support the existence ing telescope reduced overall mission of liquid water. cost and schedule risk.

Roman optical telescope assembly SCIENTIFIC TARGETS NANCY GRACE ROMAN Dark matter is an invisible substance we know is present in the universe, but cannot directly The Roman telescope was known detect. Scientists estimate about 25 percent of the universe is dark matter. Dark energy is a as the Wide Field Infrared Space force – again with specifics unknown – that causes the expansion of the universe that began Telescope, or WFIRST, during its with the Big Bang to accelerate. development. It is named for Exoplanets orbiting stars both relatively nearby and distant hold the potential to open vast NASA’s first Chief of Astronomy avenues of knowledge. That includes the question of whether life exists, or existed, outside Nancy Grace Roman, who broke of our solar system. ground for women in the field and created NASA’s space-based Roman will also support additional investigations in astrophysics and planetary science, astronomy program. Her work including a general observer program open to the broad scientific community. Expected areas included planning a program of of study through the program include solar system objects, exoplanet transits, brown dwarfs satellites and rockets, including and stellar remnants, stellar populations of the Milky Way and nearby galaxies and other topics. space telescopes. Roman was known as the “mother of Hubble” for her role in making the famous ROMAN INSTRUMENTS space telescope a reality. Roman > Telescope featuring a 2.4-meter passed away in 2018. primary mirror, an on-axis secondary mirror and relay optics to the instruments. ROMAN AND OTHER > Wide Field Instrument, featuring 18 SPACE TELESCOPES state-of-the-art detectors and technology demonstration high-contrast > Roman has a field of view Coronagraph Instrument. 100 times that of Hubble at the same depth and resolution. > Roman mirror is the same diameter as Hubble, but is only about one fourth the mass. Wide Field Instrument > Ideally, Roman would co-fly > Carries out dark energy, exoplanet with the James Webb Space microlensing and near-infrared surveys. Telescope (JWST) to couple the wide survey of Roman with > Includes wide field imaging and slitless the high-angular resolution and spectroscopic capabilities. sensitivity of JWST. This would exponentially increase the scientific return.

Coronagraph Instrument > Supports exoplanet high-contrast direct imaging and spectroscopy demonstration. > Blocks the glaring light of stars to see exoplanets and debris around nearby stars.

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