NASA is preparing to launch its new space telescope, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, on August 30, aboard SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket from the launch complex at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, on a mission aimed at answering major questions about the universe, including the nature of dark energy.
NASA and SpaceX are targeting a launch of the telescope no earlier than. The telescope is named after Nancy Grace Roman, NASA's first female chief astronomer, who played a pivotal role in developing the space telescope program that later led to Hubble.
A wide-angle view that surpasses Hubble
The Roman telescope represents a new generation of space observatories, combining high infrared observation capabilities with an extremely wide field of view, at least 100 times the area that the Hubble telescope can cover in a single shot.
This capability will enable scientists to conduct extensive surveys of the sky, map billions of galaxies, study dark matter and dark energy, search for planets outside the solar system, as well as study black holes and other objects extending from the solar system to the edges of the observable universe.
The importance of the wide field of view is that “Roman” will not only focus on individual objects, but will be able to scan huge areas of the sky and discover cosmic patterns that are difficult to detect with telescopes that have a narrower field of view.
Dark energy is at the forefront of the mission's objectives. It is the name scientists give to the mysterious factor associated with the accelerating expansion of the universe, and scientists do not yet know what this energy is or its nature.
By surveying huge numbers of galaxies and observing how they are distributed and change over time, Roman will try to improve scientists' understanding of the history of the expansion of the universe. He will also work in parallel to study dark matter, which does not emit light but affects the movement of galaxies and their clusters through its gravity.
From there, the telescope will operate in an environment suitable for stable observations of the universe. The primary science mission is planned for five years, while NASA aims to operate the observatory for up to 10 years if its condition allows.
The scientific data collected by "Roman" will be made available to the public after processing, meaning that the mission's results will not be limited to the team of scientists involved, but will become a resource for researchers around the world.
From exoplanets to black holes
Roman's mission will not be limited to studying the distant universe. Among his goals is the discovery and characterization of exoplanets, worlds that orbit other stars, which could help scientists understand the diversity of planetary systems outside our solar system.
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