NASA's Roman Space Telescope Launches to Probe Dark Matter and Exoplanets
On August 30 at 7:26 a.m. ET, NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope was successfully launched from Florida's Kennedy Space Center aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. Named in honor of NASA's inaugural chief of astronomy, the telescope is set to spend five years exploring the universe, focusing on its expansion and searching for exoplanets, stars, and black holes. Its objectives include mapping one-eighth of the sky, investigating supernovas, and analyzing the core of the Milky Way. Equipped with a 300-megapixel infrared camera and a robust coronagraph, the mission has a budget of approximately $4.3 billion and is ahead of schedule. The observatory will reach the second Lagrange point, with initial images anticipated in December, transmitting data at a rate of one terabyte daily.
Key facts
- Launched on August 30 at 7:26 a.m. Eastern time from Kennedy Space Center
- Rode atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket
- Named after Nancy Grace Roman, NASA's first chief of astronomy
- Primary mission lasts five years, built to function for another five
- Will map one-eighth of the sky and capture data on over one billion galaxies
- Carries a 300-megapixel infrared camera with field of view 100 times larger than Hubble
- Coronagraph is 100 to 1,000 times more powerful than previous space-based coronagraphs
- Total budget about $4.3 billion, running ahead of schedule
- Will travel to second Lagrange point, joining James Webb Space Telescope
- First images expected in December
- Will send about one terabyte of data per day to Earth
- Data will be made public immediately
- Complementary to Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile
Entities
Artists
- Nancy Grace Roman
Institutions
- NASA
- SpaceX
- Kennedy Space Center
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
- James Webb Space Telescope
- Vera C. Rubin Observatory
- Goddard Space Flight Center
- Teledyne
- PetaPixel
- NASA Headquarters
- Hubble Space Telescope
Locations
- Florida
- United States
- Chile
- Greenbelt, Maryland
- Earth
- Washington, D.C.
- Greenbelt
- Maryland