The solar shield of NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope has successfully completed recent tests, signaling that the assembly is on track to be completed on schedule.
The panels are designed to power and shade the observatory, enabling all mission observations and helping to keep the instruments cool.
The Roman team has two sets of such panels – one that will fly aboard the observatory and another as a test structure, used specifically for preliminary evaluations, he writes.
Engineers at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland evaluated the test version in a thermal vacuum chamber, which simulates the hot and cold temperatures and low-pressure environment that flight panels will experience in space.
The ensemble is on track to be completed on schedule
Since the panels will be , the team practiced deploying them under conditions similar to those in space.
Meanwhile, a supplier has built the flying version by equipping the panels with solar cells. After delivery to Goddard, technicians tested the solar cells by flashing the panels with a bright light that simulates the Sun.
“We save a significant amount of time and money by using two versions of the panels because we can do a lot of preliminary testing on a spare panel while we move forward with the flight version,” said Jack Marshall, head of the Solar Array Sun Shield project at NASA Goddard.
The entire spacecraft will undergo thorough testing
“This streamlines the process and also avoids the risk of damaging the panels that will be mounted on the observatory, should .”
Next spring, the flight version of the Solar Array Sun Shield will be installed on the Roman spacecraft.
It will then undergo extensive testing to ensure it will hold up during launch and perform as expected in space.
