KEYWORDS: Calibration, Coronagraphy, Simulations, Observational astronomy, Data processing, Exoplanets, Equipment, Analog electronics, Space telescopes, Signal processing
The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope’s Coronagraph Instrument will for the first time demonstrate active wavefront sensing and control for a space-based coronagraph, and may image the first planet in reflected light. The Community Participation Program has been initiated to engage members of the broader scientific community in the preparation for its planned launch in late 2026/early 2027. Here we will present the on-going work of the Data Reduction and Simulations working group, one of the four working groups within the Community Participation Program. The working group is charged with the development of the data reduction and postprocessing pipeline for the on-sky data and the development of a simulation suite to aid in the preparation and planning of Roman Coronagraph observations.
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 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 simulation tools, target databases, and data reduction software for the execution of the Coronagraph Instrument observation phase. Here, we present the current status of the CPP and its working groups, along with plans for future CPP activities up through Roman’s launch. We also discuss plans to potentially enable future commissioning of currently-unsupported modes.
Coronagraphy is one of the leading technologies for directly imaging exoplanets. To suppress starlight at high contrast, coronagraphic masks must be aligned with extreme accuracy and precision, and model-based wavefront correction algorithms must be given accurate calibration parameters. Manual alignment and calibration of coronagraphic masks is typical in most testbeds, but automation is necessary to guarantee accuracy and repeatability. To meet the strict requirements of NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Coronagraph Instrument, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory created a unit-tested software package for coronagraphic alignment and calibration. For public release, we made the software more user friendly and added more routines from the High Contrast Imaging Testbed (HCIT) facility. This open-source software package, named Coralign, contains a suite of algorithms for the alignment and calibration of the unmasked beam, deformable mirrors, and several types of coronagraphic masks (e.g., an occulter, vortex, Lyot stop, apodizer, and field stop). Coralign is available in Python (and soon in MATLAB) at github.com/nasa-jpl/coralign.
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