NASA completes the installation of solar panel for Roman space telescope
Technicians completed the installation of solar panels on NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope on 14 and 16 June, so that one of the last phases of the observatory assembly was marked. The six panel system, known as the Solar Array Sun Shield, will protect both the spacecraft of feeding and its instruments against heat.
“With the panels in place, the observatory is about 90% complete,” says Jack Marshall, who leads the effort of Solar Array Sun Shield in the Goddard Space Flight Center of NASA. “We just have to connect two important components before we start with a full series of tests.” Marshall confirmed that the team will focus on a launch in 2026, well before the Deadline of May 2027.
The system includes two fixed central panels and four others that will be used in a job to a complete array. These will remain sun -drenched during the mission and will be continuously supplied to the electronics of the observatory and the shielding of sensitive instruments against solar heat. This is in particular vital for the infrared capacities of the Roman telescope, because surplus heat would overwhelm his detectors.
“Now that the panels have been installed, the outer part of the Roman observatory has been completed,” said mechanical engineer Aaron Vigil at Goddard. In the coming months, teams will verify the implementation of the panel and test the deployable aperture cover or visor of the observatory.
At the same time, engineers test the kernel electronics of the spacecraft and subject them to the system to thermal vacuum conditions to ensure that it performs under the extreme temperatures of the room.
The project remains on schedule to integrate the inner and outdoor modules of Roman in November, with a fully assembled observatory ready for last pre-launch evaluations at the end of the year.
