Summary
In preparation for the operational phase of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, NASA has created the Coronagraph Community Participation Program (CPP) to prepare for and execute Coronagraph Instrument technology demonstration observations. The Coronagraph Instrument will provide the first-ever, in-space demonstrations of multiple key technologies that will be required by any future mission whose goals include the direct imaging and characterization of rocky planets in the habitable zones of nearby, sun-like stars, such as the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO), including ultra-precise wavefront sensing and control, and the use of large-format deformable mirrors in space. The Roman Coronagraph Instrument will not be sensitive to terrestrial planets, but will be capable of imaging giant planets in reflected, visible light, with potential sensitivity to true Jovian analogues. Additional, planned Coronagraph targets include imaging of exozodiacal dust and disks in visible wavelengths.
The CPP is composed of 7 small, US-based teams, selected competitively via the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Research and Support Participation Opportunity, members of the Roman Project Team, and international partner teams from ESA, JAXA, CNES, and the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy. The primary goals of the CPP are to prepare target, calibration, and reference star databases; to generate simulation and observation planning tools; and to implement the data reduction software for the execution of the Coronagraph Instrument observation phase. A second round of CPP teams is expected to be solicited in the upcoming D.14 ROSES call in early 2025.
In this session, we will present the current status of the Coronagraph Instrument and planned, next steps before launch. The CPP will review its current status and describe plans and development timelines up through the nominal mission launch date (October 2026). A particular emphasis will be placed on current and planned tool development along with publicly available resources for the broad community. We will also present the results of the CPP Community Interest Survey, which solicited input from the broader astronomical community on CPP goals and the prioritization of planned Coronagraph Instrument observing sequences.
Additionally, the session will include discussion of what we can expect to learn from the Roman Coronagraph that will be directly relevant to the development of HWO, as well as plans for developing and prioritizing observation sequences that directly inform future exoplanet imaging missions. The session will provide community members interested in joining or working with the CPP and opportunity to pose questions directly to current CPP participants.