Centered on Community

It’s been a busy and exciting year for the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, and its launch is nearing — no later than May 2027. At the institute, Roman teams made incredible progress developing its Science Operations Center, building strong partnerships, and broadening and deepening the engagement across the science community. Here, Kristen McQuinn, the head of the Roman mission office at the institute, Gisella De Rosa, the mission scientist of Roman’s Science Operations Center, and Javier Sanchez, an instrument scientist in the Roman Space Telescope branch, introduce the incredibly powerful Roman Research Nexus and discuss the telescope camera’s final thermal vacuum testing at BAE Systems (formerly Ball Aerospace) in Colorado, one of the mission’s industry partners.

How is Roman different from other space telescopes?

Kristen McQuinn: Roman has a mirror that is about the same size as the Hubble Space Telescope’s, which means that it has the same ability to capture faint and faraway objects, and will have exquisite image clarity. A big difference is that Roman's field of view is about 200 times larger than Hubble’s near-infrared view along with its ability to move, or slew, and settle rapidly. This means Roman will be able to survey large areas of the sky quite rapidly — 1,000 times faster than Hubble — with its camera, the Wide Field Instrument. There is also a special technology demonstration instrument on board, a coronagraph, that will be used to block light from stars to detect and image faint planets around them.

Once in operation, Roman will produce vast amounts of data. How are you preparing the community?

McQuinn: For existing missions, users often log in to STScI's archive, select the files they want, and download the observations to their computers to analyze locally. That is not reasonable for Roman. Its files will be too big. 

Gisella De Rosa: That’s why we built a cloud-based platform known as the Roman Research Nexus, which will change how science is conducted. Everyone will be able to request an exploratory account to access it. All the data, and an array of tools and software that researchers might need are in one online space. It’s where users can also analyze Roman’s data collaboratively with their teams, as well as install their own software, and share resources and files.

For example, a professor could ask an entire class of undergraduate students to analyze Roman’s data together. Researchers around the world can also analyze Roman’s observations more easily.

This is a big change for astronomers. How did you advance the Roman Research Nexus in 2024?

De Rosa: 2024 was a pivotal year for the platform. We came up with a new vision for it and did a lot of development. A big part of this was getting feedback. We held two workshops, the first with scientists at the institute and the second with the mission’s partners. The goal was for these contributors to learn how to process Roman’s simulated data and then begin to analyze them. Their feedback helped us fine-tune the Roman Research Nexus to work better for everyone in the astronomy community. We also hosted a workshop with the broader research community at the American Astronomical Society’s conference in January 2025. By summer 2026, we’re hoping to make the platform public and will continue to host regular trainings to ensure researchers know how to use it so they’re ready before Roman starts sending data.

In 2023 and 2024, Roman’s camera underwent thermal vacuum testing. Why? And what did our team learn from these tests?

Javier Sanchez: Thermal vacuum testing simulates the conditions the Wide Field Instrument will encounter in space, which ranges from about -185 degrees Celsius (-300 degrees Fahrenheit) to 20 degrees Celsius (70 degrees Fahrenheit). During the testing, the chamber started in a very cold mode, warmed up slightly to what is called nominal operations, and then went up to the hottest temperature we expect Roman to be exposed to.

The first set of tests were run in 2023, and the second in 2024. In the first round there were several straightforward tests: Is it on or off? Are data coming in? They also performed tests to characterize and calibrate the instrument, taking illuminated and completely dark images. The second tests repeated this series, but also followed up on a few anomalies the first test showed. For example, there was a detection of leaked light entering the instrument. In the time between these tests, our partners mitigated that issue. We tested the changes in the second round, and I’m happy to report they successfully prevented any unintended light from entering the instrument.

Instrument scientists at the institute helped define the tests and participated in them. Everyone supporting the tests gathered a lot of data that will inform the calibration products that will support the launch and commissioning of the telescope. What we learned helps us understand the instrument’s performance and determine if there are performance trends we need to accommodate. Overall, the data will help us forecast how Roman is going to perform once it is operating.

The bulk of Roman’s observations in its first five years will be dedicated to three vast surveys. How were those defined?

De Rosa: Roman is a community-focused mission. More than 1,000 scientists have participated in its survey definition, and authored and coauthored science pitches and white papers to clarify how they would like to use this telescope. Those folks are from more than 200 universities, research labs, and institutes spread around the world. 

McQuinn: The astronomy community’s engagement is critical as we plan how we’ll produce associated data products once Roman starts returning information. Most researchers won’t access Roman’s raw data. Instead, they’ll rely upon catalogs we create to focus on specific types of objects, like galaxies, stars, and planets. We need to make sure we’re meeting their needs before we receive data.

Their ongoing input will also inform all the other work we’re completing in advance of launch, including the specialized computing and infrastructure in the Roman Research Nexus, how the data are processed and disseminated, and the ability to analyze objects that change over time since Roman will repeatedly survey the same areas of the sky.

How will Roman’s surveys support an increase in astronomical research?

McQuinn: Roman’s data from all its surveys and observations will be released immediately to the public. There is no proprietary period for teams who submit proposals to conduct specific research, like there is for other space telescopes, which is typically a year.

De Rosa: I think the community is really excited about having data right away. Plus, the research itself will be supported by grants, and teams of researchers will be able to request funds.

McQuinn: This mission is for everyone. Roman will search for and help us better understand all the types of planets in the Milky Way, peer deep into the early universe, and help us learn what this mysterious thing we call dark energy is. It will seed inspiration and curiosity in all of us.

Mapping the Universe: The High Latitude Wide Area Survey