Near-Infrared Survey Science with the Roman Space Telescope

Speaker

Maxime Rizzo

Abstract

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is set to launch in Fall 2026, ushering in a new era of near-infrared space-based astrophysics. By combining Hubble-like spatial resolution with a field of view 100 times larger, Roman will conduct unprecedented wide-field NIR surveys to advance our understanding of dark energy and the expansion history of the universe, the growth of cosmic structure over time, exoplanet demographics, and many other areas of astrophysics. This talk will provide a mission overview, beginning with the Roman core community surveys and how their requirements drive the observatory's architecture. We will discuss the Wide-Field Instrument's design and environmental testing campaigns and present its final pre-launch performance attributes. Finally, we will review the current observatory integration status and the path to launch.

Speaker Biography

Dr. Rizzo is a systems engineer for the Wide-Field Instrument (WFI) on the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. He has worked on WFI for eight years and will accompany the instrument through commissioning and science operations. Dr. Rizzo earned his M.S. in Aerospace Engineering from ISAE-SUPAERO in Toulouse, France, before completing his Ph.D. in astronomy at the University of Maryland, College Park in 2016. He began his NASA career as a postdoctoral fellow working on the Coronagraph Instrument for what was then called WFIRST. In 2018, he joined the WFI Systems Engineering team, where he serves as a liaison between the engineering and science teams, helping to ensure that the instrument meets its ambitious scientific goals.

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