In Orbit

What if a telescope could see more than 100 times as much of the sky as Hubble in a single image? That is exactly what the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is planned to do. Scheduled to launch August 30 aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy, the telescope will change how scientists study the universe. Named after Nancy Grace Roman, NASA’s first chief astronomer and one of the main figures behind Hubble, the telescope will look at our universe on a large scale, viewing more than 100 times more than Hubble and allowing us to see large sections of the sky at once. This project aims to advance dark energy research and help us learn more about what’s accelerating the expansion of our universe. Roman will also look for exoplanets using microlensing and tools that can block starlight. What I find most exciting about Roman is that it is designed to see more. While Hubble and Webb provide great detail on individual objects in our universe, Roman will expand its reach to look for larger patterns. Once Roman launches on the 30th, it will move 1.5 million kilometers from Earth to the Sun-Earth L2 point, and from there, it will start surveying our universe. With this new space telescope, we are bound to see more discoveries, and I personally can’t wait to see what it finds.