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NASA’s Rome Space Telescope’s coronagraph instrument, designed to observe distant exoplanets by blocking starlight, has passed a major test, marking a major advance in space observation technology and
NASA’s Rome Space Telescope’s coronagraph instrument, designed to observe distant exoplanets by blocking starlight, has passed a major test, marking a major advance in space observation technology and the search for extraterrestrial life. An advanced tool for observing planets outside our solar system has completed two key tests ahead of its launch as part of the agency’s Rome Space Telescope in 2027.
The Coronagraph Instrument on NASA’s Nancy Grace Rome Space Telescope will demonstrate new technologies that could greatly increase the number of planets outside our solar system (exoplanets) that scientists can directly observe. Designed and built at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, it recently passed a series of critical tests before launch. This includes testing to ensure that the device’s electrical components do not interfere with other parts of the observatory and vice versa.
“This is a very important and frustrating phase of the spacecraft’s instrumentation that checks that everything is working as intended,” said Feng Zhao, deputy project manager for the Rome Coronagraph at JPL. “But we have a great team that built this thing, and it passed the electrical component testing perfectly.”
A coronagraph blocks light from a bright space object, such as a star, so scientists can observe a nearby object that would otherwise be obscured by glare. (Think of a car’s sun visor.) The light reflected or emitted by a planet carries information about chemicals in the planet’s atmosphere and other possible signs of habitability; Therefore, coronagraphs will likely be a critical tool in the search for life outside our solar system. .
But if scientists tried to image an Earth-like planet in another solar system (the same size, the same distance from a star similar to our Sun), they would not be able to see the planet at the brightness of the star, even in the best light conditions. coronagraphs and the most powerful telescopes in use today.
The Roman Coronagraph aims to change this paradigm. Innovations in the device will allow the size and distance of planets similar to Jupiter to be seen from their stars. The Coronagraph team expects these advances to help take a step towards imaging Earth-like planets with future observatories.
As a technology demonstration, the main purpose of the Roman Coronagraph is to test technologies that have not been used in space before. In particular, it will test its advanced light-blocking capabilities, which are at least 10 times better than those currently available. Scientists expect to further improve its performance to observe complex targets that could lead to new scientific discoveries.
Even if the star’s light was blocked by the coronagraph, the planet would still be extremely faint and a lunar observation might be required to get a good view of the distant world. To make these observations, the device’s camera detects individual photons, or individual particles of light, making it much more sensitive than previous coronagraphs.
That’s one reason why the latest tests are so important: The electrical currents that power the spacecraft’s components can produce weak electrical signals that mimic the light of the coronagraph’s sensitive cameras; This is an effect known as electromagnetic interference. Meanwhile, signals from the coronagraph may also disrupt the operation of Roman’s other instruments.
The mission must ensure that this does not happen when the telescope is operating in an isolated, electromagnetically quiet environment 1 million miles (about 1.5 million kilometers) from Earth. So a team of engineers placed the fully assembled device in a specially isolated, electromagnetically quiet chamber at JPL and boosted it to full power.
They measured the device’s electromagnetic output to make sure it fell below the level needed to work in Roman. The team used injection clamps, transformers and antennas to create electrical interference and radio waves similar to what the rest of the telescope could produce. They then measured the device’s performance by looking for excessive noise in camera images and other undesirable reactions caused by optical mechanisms.
“The electric fields we produce with antennas are about the same strength as those produced by a computer screen,” said JPL’s Roman Coronagraph electrical systems engineer Clement Haydon. “All in all, this is a pretty light level, but we have very sensitive equipment. Overall, the device did a great job targeting electromagnetic waves. And kudos to the team for completing this test campaign in record time!”
Lessons learned from the Coronagraph technology demonstration will depart from the Rome Space Telescope’s primary mission, which involves multiple scientific objectives. The mission’s primary instrument, the Wide Field Instrument, is designed to produce some of the largest images of the universe ever taken from space. These images will allow Roman to conduct groundbreaking studies of cosmic objects such as stars, planets and galaxies, and to study the large-scale distribution of matter in the universe.
For example, the Wide Field Instrument will discover tens of thousands of new exoplanets by taking repeated images of the center of the Milky Way like a multi-year time-lapse movie. (This survey of the planet will be separate from the observations made by the coronagraph).
Roman will also create 3D maps of the universe by measuring the effects of what astronomers call “dark matter” and “dark energy” to investigate how galaxies form and why the expansion of the universe is accelerating. Thanks to these vast possibilities, the novel will help answer questions about the major and minor features of our universe.
The Nancy Grace Rome Space Telescope is managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, with participation from a science team that includes scientists from JPL and Caltech/IPAC in Southern California, the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, and several research institutions. . The main industrial partners are Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. in Boulder, Colorado; L3Harris Technologies in Melbourne, Florida; and Teledyne Scientific & Imaging in Thousand Oaks, California.
Source: Port Altele
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