{"id":94332,"date":"2021-06-09T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-06-09T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/?migration=converted-node-471500"},"modified":"2023-09-29T09:08:46","modified_gmt":"2023-09-29T13:08:46","slug":"nasas-roman-space-telescope-selects-24-flight-quality-heat-vision-eyes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/missions\/roman-space-telescope\/nasas-roman-space-telescope-selects-24-flight-quality-heat-vision-eyes\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA\u2019s Roman Space Telescope Selects 24 Flight-Quality Heat-Vision \u2018Eyes\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>NASA\u2019s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope team recently flight-certified all 24 of the detectors the mission needs. When Roman launches in the mid-2020s, these devices will convert starlight into electrical signals, which will then be decoded into 300-megapixel images of large patches of the sky. These images will allow astronomers to explore a vast array of celestial objects and phenomena, bringing us closer to solving many pressing cosmic mysteries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAs the telescope\u2019s eyes, Roman\u2019s detectors will enable all of the mission\u2019s science,\u201d said John Gygax, the focal plane system manager for the Roman Space Telescope at NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. \u201cNow, based on our testing results, our team can confirm these infrared detectors meet all the requirements for Roman\u2019s purposes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Each detector has 16 million tiny pixels, providing the mission with exquisite image resolution. While 18 detectors will be incorporated into <a href=\"https:\/\/roman.gsfc.nasa.gov\/wide_field_instrument.html\" rel=\"noopener\">Roman\u2019s camera<\/a>, another six will be reserved as flight-qualified spares.<\/p>\n\n\n<div id=\"\" class=\"hds-media hds-module wp-block-image\"><div class=\"margin-left-auto margin-right-auto nasa-block-align-inline\"><div class=\"hds-media-wrapper margin-left-auto margin-right-auto\"><figure class=\"hds-media-inner hds-cover-wrapper hds-media-ratio-fit \"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/romandet-1681946.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1333\" height=\"1013\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/romandet-1681946.jpg?w=1333\" class=\"attachment-2048x2048 size-2048x2048\" alt=\"Roman detector focal plane array\" style=\"transform: scale(1); transform-origin: 50% 50%; object-position: 50% 50%; object-fit: cover;\" block_context=\"nasa-block\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/romandet-1681946.jpg 1333w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/romandet-1681946.jpg?resize=300,228 300w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/romandet-1681946.jpg?resize=768,584 768w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/romandet-1681946.jpg?resize=1024,778 1024w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/romandet-1681946.jpg?resize=400,304 400w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/romandet-1681946.jpg?resize=600,456 600w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/romandet-1681946.jpg?resize=900,684 900w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/romandet-1681946.jpg?resize=1200,912 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1333px) 100vw, 1333px\" loading=\"eager\" \/><\/a><\/figure><figcaption class=\"hds-caption padding-y-2\"><div class=\"hds-caption-text p-sm margin-0\">This photo shows 18 of Roman’s detectors mounted in an engineering test unit of the mission’s focal plane array. The focal plane array will be incorporated into Roman’s Wide Field Instrument \u2013 a 300-megapixel camera that will capture enormous images of the cosmos. <\/div><div class=\"hds-credits\">Credit: NASA\/Chris Gunn<\/div><\/figcaption><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe heart of Roman\u2019s detectors are millions of mercury-cadmium-telluride photodiodes, which are sensors that convert light into an electrical current \u2013 one for each pixel,\u201d said Greg Mosby, a research astrophysicist at Goddard who is helping assess the performance of Roman\u2019s detectors. \u201cOne of the reasons we chose this material is because by varying the amount of cadmium, we can tune the detector to have a specific cutoff wavelength. That allows us to focus more precisely on the wavelengths of light we\u2019re trying to see.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To make the detectors, technicians at Teledyne Imaging Sensors in Camarillo, California built up the photodiodes on the base of the detector layer by layer. Then, they secured the detector to a silicon electronics board that will help process the light signals using indium \u2013 a soft metal that has roughly the same consistency as chewing gum. The pixels were glued down using a tiny drop of indium for each one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The drops were meticulously placed just 10 microns apart \u2013 about the width of a typical cotton fiber. If we scaled one of Roman\u2019s detectors up to be as long as an Olympic-size swimming pool, the indium blobs would be less than half an inch apart. This precise alignment ensures that each of the sensors will operate independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe Roman team has spent years identifying an optimal recipe for the mission\u2019s detectors,\u201d Mosby said. \u201cIt\u2019s gratifying to see the team\u2019s hard work pay off on this crucial technical aspect of the mission. We can\u2019t wait to see how the images from these detectors transform our understanding of the universe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<div id=\"\" class=\"hds-media hds-module wp-block-image\"><div class=\"margin-left-auto margin-right-auto nasa-block-align-inline\"><div class=\"hds-media-wrapper margin-left-auto margin-right-auto\"><figure class=\"hds-media-inner hds-cover-wrapper hds-media-ratio-fit \"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/dete.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"985\" height=\"696\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/dete.jpg?w=985\" class=\"attachment-2048x2048 size-2048x2048\" alt=\"A man with brown skin is dressed in a white lab coat, white hat, white face mask, and blue gloves. He holds a Saltine-sized blue detector in one hand and a small cell phone camera with tweezers in the other hand.\" style=\"transform: scale(1); transform-origin: 50% 50%; object-position: 50% 50%; object-fit: cover;\" block_context=\"nasa-block\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/dete.jpg 985w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/dete.jpg?resize=300,212 300w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/dete.jpg?resize=768,543 768w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/dete.jpg?resize=400,283 400w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/dete.jpg?resize=600,424 600w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/dete.jpg?resize=900,636 900w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 985px) 100vw, 985px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><figcaption class=\"hds-caption padding-y-2\"><div class=\"hds-caption-text p-sm margin-0\">Greg Mosby holds one of Roman\u2019s detectors (left) and an entire cell phone camera (right) for size comparison. The best modern cell phone cameras can provide around 12-megapixel images, while each of Roman\u2019s detectors contains 16 megapixels. Since Roman\u2019s camera contains 18 detectors, it will capture 300-megapixel panoramas. The mission will conduct sweeping cosmic surveys with the same sharp resolution that the Hubble Space Telescope provides. <\/div><div class=\"hds-credits\">Credit: NASA\/Chris Gunn<\/div><\/figcaption><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Hubble\u2019s wide-eyed cousin<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Combining so many detectors and pixels gives Roman its wide field of view, enabling the mission to create infrared images that will be around 200 times larger than Hubble can provide while revealing the same level of rich detail. The spacecraft is expected to collect far more data than any other NASA astrophysics mission before it. Scientists had to develop new processes that will compress and digitize the mission\u2019s downpour of data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Goddard engineers also pioneered novel testing methods to ensure the detectors will meet the mission\u2019s needs. Roman requires extremely sensitive detectors to see faint signals from far across the cosmos. But it isn\u2019t easy to create detectors that meet the mission\u2019s strict quality requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The team knew that not all of the detectors would pass their stringent tests, so they ordered more than the mission requires and will use the best ones. But the extra detectors won\u2019t go to waste \u2013 some are destined to serve as the eyes of other telescopes that have more lenient requirements, while others will be used for additional testing on the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Staying cool<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Roman will create enormous, high-resolution panoramas of the infrared universe, building on the <a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/mission_pages\/spitzer\/main\/index.html\">Spitzer Space Telescope<\/a>\u2019s groundbreaking observations and complementing the <a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.jwst.nasa.gov\/\">James Webb Space Telescope<\/a>. Viewing space in infrared light is like using heat-vision goggles, helping us spot things we wouldn\u2019t be able to see otherwise. But doing so requires precise and extremely cold detectors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Roman Space Telescope's Wide Field Instrument\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7h4_7tduA3c?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is a next-generation observatory that will survey the infrared universe from beyond the orbit of the Moon. The spacecraft’s giant camera, the Wide Field Instrument (WFI), will be fundamental to this exploration. Watch this video to see a simplified version of how it works. <a href=\"https:\/\/svs.gsfc.nasa.gov\/13235\" rel=\"noopener\">Download high-resolution video and images from NASA\u2019s Scientific Visualization Studio<\/a>. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSpace is very dark, and everything gives off infrared light according to its temperature,\u201d said Dominic Benford, the Roman program scientist at NASA Headquarters. \u201cRoman\u2019s telescope, camera, and detectors all have to be cooled so that they are darker than the universe they\u2019ll be looking at.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since we can detect infrared light as heat, Roman\u2019s detectors will have to be supercooled to a frigid -288 degrees Fahrenheit (-178 degrees Celsius). Otherwise heat from the spacecraft\u2019s own components would saturate the detectors, effectively blinding the telescope. A radiator will redirect waste heat from the spacecraft components away from the detectors out into cold space, ensuring that Roman will be sensitive to faint signals from distant galaxies and other cosmic objects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The combination of Roman\u2019s fine resolution and enormous images has never been possible on a space-based telescope before and will make the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope an indispensable tool in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is managed at NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, with participation by NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Caltech\/IPAC in Southern California, the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, and a science team comprising scientists from various research institutions. The primary industrial partners are Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corporation in Boulder, Colorado; L3Harris Technologies in Melbourne, Florida; and Teledyne Imaging Sensors in Camarillo, California.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/svs.gsfc.nasa.gov\/13235\" rel=\"noopener\">Download high-resolution video and images from NASA\u2019s Scientific Visualization Studio<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em><strong>By <a href=\"mailto:ashley.m.balzer@nasa.gov\">Ashley Balzer<\/a><br><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/goddard\">NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center<\/a>, Greenbelt, Md.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Media contact:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em><strong><a href=\"mailto:claire.andreoli@nasa.gov\">Claire Andreoli<\/a><br><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/goddard\">NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center<\/a>, Greenbelt, Md.<br>301-286-1940<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NASA\u2019s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope team recently flight-certified all 24 of the detectors the mission needs. When Roman launches in the mid-2020s, these devices will convert starlight into electrical signals, which will then be decoded into 300-megapixel images of large patches of the sky. These images will allow astronomers to explore a vast array [...]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":285,"featured_media":213683,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nasa_hds_core_meta_l10n":"en-US","nasa_hds_core_meta_article_editor":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_article_contacts":[],"nasa_hds_core_meta_article_topic":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_linked_locations":[],"nasa_hds_core_meta_article_related_articles":[],"hds_migrate_meta_pr_release_id":"","hds_migrate_meta_pr_release_type":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_location_x":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_location_y":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_gallery_images":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[10729,2857,2736,2831,2783,2661,2659],"news-tags":[],"internal-terms":[4215,4217,3913,11526,11531,10626,10596,4212],"coauthors":[10923],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"NASA\u2019s Roman Space Telescope Selects 24 Flight-Quality Heat-Vision \u2018Eyes\u2019","url":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/missions\/roman-space-telescope\/nasas-roman-space-telescope-selects-24-flight-quality-heat-vision-eyes\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/missions\/roman-space-telescope\/nasas-roman-space-telescope-selects-24-flight-quality-heat-vision-eyes\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/dete-1.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/dete-1.jpg"},"articleSection":"Missions","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ashley Balzer"}],"creator":["Ashley Balzer"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"NASA","logo":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/themes\/nasa\/assets\/images\/nasa-logo.svg"},"keywords":["The Universe","Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope","Goddard Space Flight Center","James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)","Science Instruments","Spitzer Space Telescope","Technology"],"dateCreated":"2021-06-09T18:00:00Z","datePublished":"2021-06-09T18:00:00Z","dateModified":"2023-09-29T13:08:46Z"},"rendered":"<meta name=\"parsely-title\" content=\"NASA\u2019s Roman Space Telescope Selects 24 Flight-Quality Heat-Vision \u2018Eyes\u2019\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-link\" content=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/missions\/roman-space-telescope\/nasas-roman-space-telescope-selects-24-flight-quality-heat-vision-eyes\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-type\" content=\"post\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-image-url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/dete-1.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-pub-date\" content=\"2021-06-09T18:00:00Z\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-section\" content=\"Missions\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-tags\" content=\"The Universe,Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope,Goddard Space Flight Center,James Webb Space Telescope (JWST),Science Instruments,Spitzer Space Telescope,Technology\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-author\" content=\"Ashley Balzer\" \/>","tracker_url":"https:\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/nasa.gov\/p.js"},"read_time":6,"time_ago":"3 years","featured_image":{"id":213683,"file":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/dete-1.jpg","title":"Roman Detector Close-Up","alt":"Close-up image of a blue-gloved hand holding a Roman detector - a square shaped, turquoise colored reflective object - in a silver metal casing.","caption":"A technician holds one of Roman's detectors."},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94332"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/285"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94332"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94332\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":580925,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94332\/revisions\/580925"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/213683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94332"},{"taxonomy":"news-tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-tags?post=94332"},{"taxonomy":"internal-terms","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/internal-terms?post=94332"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=94332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}