You are connecting from Lake Geneva Public Library, please login or register to take advantage of your institution's Ground News Plan.
Published 25 minutes ago • loading... • Updated 2 hours ago
NASA's Soon-to-Launch Telescope Will Give the Largest View of Space Ever. Here's How It Works
The observatory will map more than 2 billion galaxies and release data to the public soon after processing, NASA said.
On Sunday, August 30, 2026, NASA will launch the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope from Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, marking a roughly $4 billion investment in the mission.
Named after Nancy Grace Roman, the 'mother of Hubble,' the mission aims to study dark energy and dark matter while discovering thousands of exoplanets beyond Earth's solar system.
With a panoramic field of view, the Wide Field Instrument captures images 100 times larger than Hubble's, allowing scientists to map over two billion galaxies across cosmic time far faster than previous observatories.
Advanced coronagraph technology will block starlight to reveal exoplanets 100 million times fainter than their host stars, enabling researchers to study distant worlds previously hidden from direct observation.
NASA Ames Research Center experts developed software to optimize observing plans and enhance data processing, while the mission is designed for five years with potential for five additional years of operation.