Vessel Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope

[MarkWatney2015]

Anyone would like to create an add-on for the NGRST? It is currently planned to be launched by a Falcon Heavy by late 2026 or mid-2027

 

[gattispilot]

here is a good site:

Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope

Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope

roman.gsfc.nasa.gov

I might look into it. Not sure about sizes,....

 

[MarkWatney2015]

The main mirror is the same size as Hubble's at 2.4-meters in diameter.
It was originally designed to be a spy satellite for the NRO (likely a KH-11 variant) until two surplus hardware (including what became NGRST) were donated for "free" to NASA

 

[MarkWatney2015]

NASA 3D Resources has an STL model for the NGRST but no textures available

3D Resources - NASA Science

The 3D Resources hub stores 3D models related to NASA's various missions. Some of these models are 3D printable! All of these assets are free to download and

nasa3d.arc.nasa.gov

 

[gattispilot]

Thanks. I was able to convert. Size? will need to cut to animate the dish and panels.

 

[MarkWatney2015]

Other than the mirror diameter (2.4 m) and total mass (4,166 kg) there hasn't yet any published measurements of its overall length.
It should be able to fit inside a standard Falcon 9 fairing since it is going to be launched from a Falcon Heavy

 

[gattispilot]

So this so far. I think the rest will be a metal texture? I saw where it needs thrusters on the aft. RSC will be interesting.

https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14573

need to texture the solar panels also

 

[BrianJ]

Some more info....

Empty Mass 4059 kg
Fuel Mass 107 kg
(If you give its engines an ISP of 3600 Ns/kg it will have about 94m/s dV . Not much, but maybe enough to correct for the final
L2-halo orbit)
Length 12.7 m

 

[gattispilot]

Added grapple mount. It looks like small cones on the solar panels. I need to animate the dish and the solar panels

 

[MarkWatney2015]

There is a preliminary state vector data for NGRST that acts as its first prelaunch trajectory plan, now available at JPL HORIZONS. We could use it for orbit scenarios for this project

 

[gattispilot]

This is what I have so far. press 1 to open the panels. I need to work on the dish.
add rcs/main exhaust.

SetEmptyMass(4059);
const double FUELMASS = 107;
const double ISP = 3600;

not sure what the thrust should be for rcs and main?

I was able to get the mirror to be reflective. But not the solar panels?

 

[BrianJ]

not sure what the thrust should be for rcs and main?

As an aproximate guess, I'd go with maybe 200N total for the main engine(4 x 50N thrusters?) and maybe a couple of thrusters per rotation axis.

 

[gattispilot]

Thanks. so I here load on a Falcon. The Hga antenna. i guess it angles back not straight up to clear that rear ring? But the 1st stage crashed.. What day/time should we have her launch? I guess new fairing also. I wonder what the logo will look like?

 

[gattispilot]

Trying to figure out the HGA. lots of images. So I see it hinges near the edge of the collar. with a L part it fits against the back panel. it is at the top where the dish is. The range of motion. I assume that is can rotate 360 degrees on the mast and then tilt 180 degrees?

 

[MarkWatney2015]

I guess new fairing also. I wonder what the logo will look like?

Most likely it will have its official logo painted on the painting. However, we would not know it likely for another year until it finally releases.

For now, a generic fairing will do

 

[BrianJ]

But the 1st stage crashed..

If you are using Orbiter2024, only the latest version 250122 of Falcon9 is compatible.

What day/time should we have her launch?

I vote for 16 May (Dr. Roman's birthday) 2027.

An opportunity for me to see if LagrangeLaunchMFD is useful at all...
....it gives me a liftoff time of 14:21:33 UTC, 43.06 deg.inc.equ. (55.11deg azimuth, ascending node) and a short ~5 minute coast (200km parking orbit) before the burn. (Launched from LC39A)

I had a quick try with the Falcon9 (expendable mode) and 5500kg Test sat, and it can just about do it with only drops left in the upper stage. I guess there must be a reason for the choice of Falcon Heavy anyway.

Cheers,
Brian

EDIT: I just remembered @Gargantua2024 said Horizons had some trajectory data - they have a launch date of 30 October 2026, sometime before 07:00 UTC.

I had a quick look at the data...and I don't understand it at all! It seems to imply there is 3 hour burn going on from the start of the data (and other stuff I don't understand like a negative range-rate etc.)...maybe someone else can figure out what it means.

 

[MarkWatney2015]

I've tried to run the prelaunch trajectory myself a few days ago...what I don't understand is why are there so many "jagged" maneuvers in the data (errors)....it only started to look like an actual trajectory by the time it reaches Sun-Earth L2 for some reason

 

[gattispilot]

This is what I have. I redid the antenna. keys G deploys the antenna. 2 stores Antenna. 1 deploy solar shield I have it on A Falcon HVY. Maybe this for the fairing?

I just changed a FH scenario. it is under LEO 200 km orbit and named:28K to LEO(LC39A) Core LZ Bstr LZRST

 

[BrianJ]

Very nice! Everything on the NGRST working fine. Thanks

LagrangeLaunchMFD can't find a solution for 30 Oct 2026 (there are many ways of going to L2 halo orbit, but the MFD only knows one ;-) so I made myself a launch scenario for 16 May 2027 (attached below).

Cheers,
Brian

 

[francisdrake]

Very nice work!
I did not realize the sheer size of the telescope until I saw it on the launcher.