WASHINGTON — A NASA space telescope that promises to revolutionize cosmology and exoplanet science is ready for launch after a 16-year journey.
The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is scheduled to launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy from the Kennedy Space Center at 7:26 a.m. Eastern on Aug. 30. The rocket will send Roman on a trajectory toward the Earth-sun L-2 Lagrange point, 1.5 million kilometers from Earth.
The $4.3 billion telescope has a five-year prime mission, surveying the universe using a 300-megapixel infrared camera. The spacecraft also has a coronagraph instrument flying as a technology demonstration, testing the ability to precisely block light from an individual star to directly observe any planets orbiting it.
Astronomers plan to use Roman to better understand dark energy and dark matter, which comprise about 95% of the universe but remain a mystery. They also expect Roman to help them discover thousands of exoplanets.
“Roman is poised to conduct revolutionary surveys that will impact every area of astronomy,” said Julie McEnery, senior project scientist for Roman at NASA, during a briefing about the mission in July.
