Researchers at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center commenced installation and testing of the flight harness for the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which was created for dark energy and dark matter research.
The harness powers and connects the telescope to the central computer, which will use sensors to monitor the observatory’s functions, the agency said Wednesday.
The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope completed its critical design review phase in September 2021 and is scheduled to launch in 2027. The next-generation observatory, which is designed to have 200 times larger field view than the Hubble Space Telescope, will explore large cosmic structures, investigate dark energy, and map galaxies and dark matter.
The harness being integrated into the observatory is comprised of 32,000 wires and 900 connectors, bringing its weight to about 1,000 pounds. The components took two years for the Goddard team to measure, clean and connect to each other.
“Just as the nervous system carries signals throughout the human body, Roman’s harness connects its components, providing both power and commands to each electronic box and instrument,” said Deneen Ferro, lead of the Roman harness project development at Goddard Space Flight Center. “Without a harness, there is no spacecraft.”