The core portion of NASA\u2019s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope has successfully completed vibration testing, ensuring it will withstand the extreme shaking experienced during launch. Passing this key milestone brings Roman one step closer to helping answer essential questions about the role of dark energy and other cosmic mysteries.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe test could be considered as powerful as a pretty severe earthquake, but there are key differences,\u201d said Cory Powell, the Roman lead structural analyst at NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. \u201cUnlike an earthquake, we sweep through our frequencies one at a time, starting with very low-level amplitudes and gradually increasing them while we check everything<\/em> along the way. It’s a very complicated process that takes extraordinary effort to do safely and efficiently.\u201d<\/p>\n