Credit: NASA/Chris Gunn
NASA s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope team recently flight-certified all 24 of the detectors the mission needs. When Roman launches in the mid-2020s, these devices will convert starlight into electrical signals, which will then be decoded into 300-megapixel images of large patches of the sky. These images will allow astronomers to explore a vast array of celestial objects and phenomena, bringing us closer to solving many pressing cosmic mysteries. As the telescope s eyes, Roman s detectors will enable all of the mission s science, said John Gygax, the focal plane system manager for the Roman Space Telescope at NASA s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Now, based on our testing results, our team can confirm these infrared detectors meet all the requirements for Roman s purposes.