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[Music throughout] NASA’s Nancy Grace

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Roman Space Telescope is designed to answer big questions about the universe: 

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what is dark energy, which seems to be speeding up the expansion

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of the universe? How many planets exist among the stars, and

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what are they like? The Roman Space Telescope is similar to 

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Hubble, but benefits from 30 years of technological development.

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It will view the sky on a scale never before accomplished from space.

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[Primary mirror] This is where Roman is closest to Hubble. It has the

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same size and type of main mirror, a 2.4-meter precisely

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shaped piece of silver-coated glass. The size of this mirror

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is partly how Roman matches Hubble’s resolution.

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[Wide Field Instrument] Roman’s main camera is the Wide Field Instrument which will take

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infrared pictures of the sky to study dark energy, observe galaxies and

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stars, and find exoplanets. Instead of Hubble’s single

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first-generation image sensor, the WFI incorporates 18

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3rd generation chips that allow it to take pictures capturing 100 times

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greater sky area than Hubble’s. Each 300-megapixel

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image will enable scientists to study a large portion of the sky.

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At Roman’s back is its primary means of communication

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with Earth, the High Gain Antenna. [High Gain Antenna] This antenna will be 

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responsible for sending nearly 1.4 terabytes of data to ground stations

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every day. That’s the equivalent of 460 hours of streaming video.

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Roman’s critical systems, such as

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power and data handling, are located in six modules at the spacecraft’s

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rear. [Avionics modules] These include six rotating “reaction wheels”

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that control where the spacecraft points, nearly one ton of propellant,

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for larger movements, and a 10 terabyte data recorder.

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Roman’s other instrument is its Coronagraph Technology

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Demonstration. [Coronagraph Technology Demonstration] A coronagraph blocks a star's light

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to capture the faint light from orbiting planets. It will be the first

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time a space telescope has used deformable mirrors to precisely

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control the incoming light, and special masks to block only the starlight.

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This method will enable Roman to capture direct images of

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distant planets and even analyze the light that is reflected off their surfaces,

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allowing scientists to learn about their composition and atmospheres.

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The spacecraft’s solar panels

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provide its power by converting sunlight into electricity. [Solar Panels]

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They also shade the spacecraft, helping to keep its instruments at their design

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temperatures. The solar panels will be able to provide

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4,100 watts of power. Enough to run two commercial microwave ovens.

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With all these systems working together, and in

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partnership with powerful future telescopes, the Nancy Grace Roman

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Space Telescope will be able to usher in a new era of studying our universe.

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[Music]

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[Explore: Solar system & beyond] [NASA]