Roman Space Telescope Begins 90-Day Checkout After Successful Launch
Creatrip Team
19 days ago
NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope launched on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy and entered a 90-day in-space commissioning phase. Solar arrays and protective covers deployed shortly after separation, achieving a power-positive state and establishing initial S-band communications with ground stations in Canberra. Over the next days the telescope will extend its high-gain antenna (HGA) and open a visor-like aperture cover; instruments such as the Wide Field Instrument (WFI) will be powered and aligned about two weeks after launch. Two planned mid-course trajectory corrections toward the Sun–Earth L2 point will determine fuel use, which in turn affects whether the mission can reach NASA’s 10-year operational goal (baseline 5 years). NASA aims to receive first engineering images before the U.S. year-end holidays, with public release of fully calibrated science images possibly in early 2027. The mission’s success will be judged after the 90-day checkout confirms the telescope’s sensitivity, pointing precision, and instrument performance.
