Nov/Dec, 2022
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tech.com
Space Telescope Vibration Isolation Optimizes Image Clarity
By Steve Varma, Operations Manager, Minus K Technology
(WFIRST), is a NASA space observatory cur- rently in development and is scheduled to launch into space no later than May 2027. The Roman Space Telescope hosts two
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instruments: the Wide Field Instrument (WFI) which emphasizes studying the evolu- tion of the universe and understanding what solar systems beyond our own are like; and the Coronagraph Instru ment to advance technologies for extreme high contrast imaging and spec- troscopy from space. In 1998, scientists discov-
ered that the expansion of the universe is accelerating, causing them to reconsider their models for the formation of the universe. Visible matter accounts for only about five percent of the contents of the universe. Nearly 27 per- cent of the universe comes in the form of dark matter, which does- n’t emit or absorb light. Dark matter is only detectable through its gravitational effects on visible matter. A significant portion of the
Roman’s mission will be dedicat- ed to monitoring hundreds of thousands of distant galaxies for supernova explosions, which can be used to study dark energy and the expansion of the universe. Roman’s primary instrument
is the Wide Field Instrument (WFI) which will have a field of view that is 100 times greater than Hubble’s widest exposure. It will capture more of the sky with less observing time. Over the first five years of observations, Roman will image over 50 times as much sky as Hubble has covered so far in 30 years. The WFI will measure light from a billion galaxies over the course of the mission lifetime.
Shading Starlight Discovering Earth-like plan-
ets with atmospheres may come down to the ability of blocking starlight from a telescope. Although this sounds like a tall order, this has been done since 1931 since when French astronomer Bernard Lyot intro- duced the first coronagraph. A coronagraph is an attachment to a telescope designed to block out the direct light from a star so that nearby objects, which other- wise would be hidden in the star’s bright glare, can be seen. The Roman Space Telescope
includes a Coronagraph Instru - ment that is a multi-layered and highly complex piece of technolo- gy, consisting of a system of masks, prisms, detectors, and two self-flexing mirrors (deformable mirrors). These mir- rors are active components,
NASA’s Roman space telescope.
he Nancy Grace Roman Space Tele - scope (Roman), formerly named the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope
changing their shape in real time to accom- modate incoming light to compensate for tiny changes in the telescope’s optics and observa- tory vibrations. In tandem with high-tech “masks” and
other components — collectively known as “active wavefront control” — these mirrors remove the interference caused by light waves that bend around the edges of the corona- graph’s light-blocking elements. The end
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