NASA’s New Space Telescope Is Poised to Discover Hidden Facets of the Universe
NASA is set to launch the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope to study dark energy and map the evolution of the universe. The telescope features a wide field of view and high resolution, which will also aid in the discovery of thousands of new exoplanets.
Why it matters
This mission represents a significant leap in astrophysical capabilities, potentially answering fundamental questions about the nature of the universe.
But the specifications of this grand architecture remain shrouded in mystery. Driven by a ghostly force that scientists call dark energy, the universe is ever-changing, constantly expanding at an accelerating rate.
A new space telescope, launching as soon as August 30 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, will attempt to untangle the nature of these dark intergalactic phenomena. With the resolution of Hubble and a field of view about 100 times as big, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will provide a new way to look at the universe that could help solve some of the biggest questions in astrophysics.
“An observatory like Roman is intrinsically a discovery machine,” says Julie McEnery, NASA’s senior project scientist for the space telescope. “We're going to find rare things, unusual things, new things, surprising things.”
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