A new eye on the universe opened today (August 30) as NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope blasted into space aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Named for NASA's first chief astronomer, Roman is designed to survey enormous swaths of the cosmos and investigate some of its biggest mysteries, including dark matter, dark energy, and distant exoplanets. Its Wide Field Instrument will capture views roughly 100 times wider than Hubble's, while its advanced coronagraph will help scientists study planets beyond our solar system.
The launch went smoothly, with Falcon Heavy's two side boosters making pinpoint landings back at Cape Canaveral. The telescope is now beginning a roughly 90-day journey to its destination, the sun-Earth Lagrange point known as L2, a stable vantage point beyond the Moon’s orbit. Once there, its instruments will be tested and calibrated, with the first science images expected in early 2027.
And NASA is inviting the public along for the ride with its free "Adopt a Pixel" program. Roman’s enormous images could contain up to a trillion pixels, offering an unprecedented—and potentially mind-bending—look at the universe!