PHOENIX \u2014 NASA expects to launch the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope as soon as September, citing the mission as evidence the agency can do flagship major science missions on time and within budget.<\/p>\n
During a town hall session at the 247th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society here Jan. 5, project officials said the spacecraft is entering final testing and launch preparations with no major issues.<\/p>\n
The telescope is fully assembled and housed in a clean room at NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center. Vibration and acoustic testing are scheduled to begin in February, said Julie McEnery, Roman\u2019s senior project scientist.<\/p>\n
If those tests proceed as planned, the spacecraft will ship to Florida in June for launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. The launch is currently scheduled for Sept. 28.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really real,\u201d McEnery said. \u201cWe\u2019re at the finish line here.\u201d<\/p>\n
A late-September launch would be more than six months ahead of the mission\u2019s formal launch commitment date of May 2027. The project also remains within its approved budget, with an estimated total lifecycle cost of $4.3 billion.<\/p>\n
McEnery said the mission has met its cost and schedule targets without sacrificing performance.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have not made compromises. This mission meets or exceeds all science requirements,\u201d she said. \u201cThe mission that we described at the mission confirmation review is the one that we built.\u201d<\/p>\n
Following launch, commissioning of the spacecraft and its instruments is expected to take about 90 days, after which the science mission will begin. Much of the town hall discussion focused on Roman\u2019s planned surveys and how scientists will handle the large volumes of data the telescope will produce, rather than on spacecraft development itself.<\/p>\n
Roman\u2019s progress is significant for NASA, which has pointed to the mission as proof it has absorbed lessons from earlier flagship programs such as the James Webb Space Telescope. Webb experienced years of delays and billions of dollars in cost overruns, raising concerns about NASA\u2019s ability to manage large science missions, even though it has since delivered major scientific results.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope project is still not just on schedule but ahead of schedule and under budget. That\u2019s incredible,\u201d Shawn Domagal-Goldman, director of NASA\u2019s astrophysics division, said during a separate agency town hall at the conference.<\/p>\n
The project has stayed on track despite external challenges, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and two lengthy government shutdowns, including one last fall as spacecraft integration was nearing completion, he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want to hear that we can\u2019t do flagships on time and on budget,\u201d he said. \u201cThe Roman team has proven that we can.\u201d<\/p>\n
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