The Roman Space Telescope is planned to launch no earlier than 7:26 AM EDT (4:56 PM IST) on August 30, using a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
What is the Roman Space Telescope?
Named in honor of Dr. Nancy Grace Roman, NASA’s first chief astronomer and often referred to as the ‘mother of the Hubble Space Telescope,’ this observatory is designed to explore the universe with an incredibly wide field of view.
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According to NASA, the telescope’s field of view will be at least 100 times greater than that of Hubble, and it will be capable of measuring light from up to a billion galaxies over its operational life.
“This observatory will also be equipped to block out starlight so it can directly observe exoplanets and planet-forming disks, conduct a statistical census of planetary systems in our galaxy, and answer key questions in dark energy, exoplanets, and infrared astrophysics,” stated NASA.
A telescope carrying more than 1.35 million names
The mission will include a unique tribute to deep space. NASA has recently loaded a memory card with 1,350,144 names submitted by individuals worldwide, including astronauts from the Artemis II and Artemis III missions.
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This memory card is secured within a commemorative plaque attached to the telescope and will journey with the observatory to the Sun-Earth Lagrange Point 2 (L2), approximately one million miles from Earth, where the gravitational forces of the Sun and Earth are in balance.
Managed by NASA Goddard
The Roman Space Telescope project is overseen by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, while NASA’s Launch Services Program at Kennedy handles launch vehicle program management for the SpaceX launch service.
