Begin developing telescope design

The Administrator directed the Science Mission Directorate to continue pre-formulation activities for the WFIRST mission. The Astrophysics Focused Telescope Assets (AFTA) Science definition team (SDT) study office begin developing telescope design.

Instruments are announced

Two WFIRST-AFTA Instruments announced. Wide-Field Instrument and Coronograph

Formulation Science Investigation Teams

NASA announced on December 17, 2015 the selection of the following Formulation Science Investigation Teams for the WFIRST mission. These teams will work for 5 years with the NASA and Project teams on science requirements, mission design and scientific performance predictions for the mission.

Milestone # 7

Milestone # 7 for the WFIRST Coronagraph Technology Program was held.

Formulation

"WFIRST has the potential to open our eyes to the wonders of the universe, much the same way Hubble has," said John Grunsfeld, astronaut and associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate at Headquarters in Washington. "This mission uniquely combines the ability to discover and characterize planets beyond our own solar system with the sensitivity and optics to look wide and deep into the universe in a quest to unravel the mysteries of dark energy and dark matter."

NASA Receives findings from WFIRST Independent Review Team

"NASA thanks this prestigious and highly-experienced team for their work; this report is as thorough and thoughtful as we hoped," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate at Headquarters, Washington. "We are taking the report’s findings and recommendations very seriously as we think about the future of this exciting mission."

Contract Awarded

NASA has awarded a contract to Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corporation, Boulder, Colorado, for the primary instrument

Preliminary Design Review

The telescope for WFIRST has successfully passed its preliminary design review, a major milestone for the mission. This means the telescope has met the performance, schedule, and budget requirements to advance to the next stage of development, where the team will finalize its design.

Mission Renamed to Nancy Grace Roman Telescope

NASA is naming its next-generation space telescope currently under development, the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST), in honor of Nancy Grace Roman, NASA’s first chief astronomer, who paved the way for space telescopes focused on the broader universe.

Ground System Completes Major Review

"This is an exciting milestone for the mission,” said Ken Carpenter, the Roman ground system project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “We are on track to complete the data system in time for launch, and we look forward to the ground-breaking science it will enable."

Primary Mirror Completed

The Roman mission’s ground system, which will make data from the spacecraft available to scientists and the public, has just successfully completed its preliminary design review. The plan for science operations has met all of the design, schedule, and budget requirements, and will now proceed to the next phase: building the newly designed data system.

NASA Confirms Roman Mission's Flight Design in Milestone Review

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope has successfully passed its critical design review, signaling that all design work is now complete. [ Go to News Feature ]

This photo shows the setup for space environment testing of the engineering development unit for Roman’s Solar Array Sun Shield.