NASA prepares to launch Roman telescope, capable of observing 2,000 galaxies

NASA says everything is ready for Sunday’s launch of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, the largest panoramic observatory ever built.

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy will carry Roman from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The launch is scheduled for 7:26 a.m. Eastern time, or 11:26 GMT. NASA experts approved the mission this week after its final readiness review, allowing it to begin nine months earlier than originally planned.

After launch, the telescope will spend about 100 days traveling to the gravitationally stable L2 point between the Sun and Earth. From there, it will search for answers about dark energy, exoplanets and infrared astrophysics.

Roman will observe more than 2,000 galaxies and help measure the universe’s expansion. Its coronagraph will block the glare of stars, allowing researchers to photograph nearby planets. The telescope will complement other NASA space observatories by scanning broad areas and identifying targets for closer examination.

Roman’s field of view is 100 times larger than Hubble’s. In one month, it will capture images of an area of sky 50 times larger than the area Hubble covered in 30 years. NASA experts say it could detect up to half of the Milky Way’s stars and produce 11 terabytes of data a day, roughly equivalent to downloading 350 4K Ultra HD films every 24 hours.

During its first five years, Roman is expected to monitor the center of the Milky Way every 12.5 minutes. Its objectives will then be updated based on its discoveries. NASA expects the telescope’s fuel to last 10 years, but designed it for refueling even though the agency currently lacks the ability to service observatories at L2. The telescope is named after Nancy Grace Roman, NASA’s first chief astronomer and one of the architects of the agency’s modern space program.