Roman prepares for science surveys during final commissioning

NASA reported on October 22 that the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope had entered science commissioning after completing checkout and refinement of the observatory and its primary instrument. Teams are now testing image quality and instrument response before the transition to science operations.

The observatory can guide, take exposures, move between targets and send data through its systems, Roman senior project scientist Julie McEnery said in NASA’s update. The agency reported that test observations in crowded star fields and dust-obscured regions had also demonstrated the fine-guidance system’s ability to keep the telescope pointed at its targets.

This phase follows the hardware checks described in NASA’s October 14 report. Engineers had tested the Wide Field Instrument’s detectors, filter mechanism, calibration lights and thermal controls, deployed its alignment mechanism towards best focus, and adjusted the telescope’s optics. The new work characterizes the combined observatory’s performance for scientific observations.

Roman’s planned surveys will be a shared research resource. NASA’s mission information page states that all observing time will be community directed and that the data will have no proprietary period, allowing multiple researchers to use observations at the same time. Astronomers worldwide will be able to propose research and additional observations, the agency states.

NASA’s October 22 update describes further calibration and image-quality work before science operations. It does not announce completed commissioning or give a date for that transition.