Topline<\/p>\n
NASA is about to launch the first of what promises to be a new generation of space observatories. On Sunday, Aug. 30, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope<\/a> is scheduled to lift off aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The $4.3 billion flagship mission arrives roughly nine months ahead of NASA\u2019s previous schedule \u2014 an unusually early finish for a project of its size \u2014 and astronomers believe it could transform our understanding of everything from dark energy and dark matter to planets beyond the solar system.\u201cIt\u2019s going to do things that currently are impossible,\u201d said Shawn Domagal-Goldman, director of NASA\u2019s Astrophysics Division, in a NASA press conference<\/a> on July 29. Here\u2019s exactly when to see it launch on Sunday, Aug. 30, 2026. <\/p>\n NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope could conduct a mega-exposure similar to but far larger than Hubble\u2019s celebrated Ultra-Deep Field Image.<\/p>\n GSFC\/SVSKey Facts<\/p>\n NASA plans to launch the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sunday, Aug. 30. Liftoff is scheduled for no earlier than 7:26 a.m. EDT.<\/p>\n Roman is NASA\u2019s next flagship astrophysics observatory and is designed to survey more than two billion galaxies, investigate dark energy and dark matter, and discover around 100,000 exoplanets during its five-year prime mission. Unlike Hubble or Webb, it is built to map vast areas of the sky rather than focus on individual objects.<\/p>\n The mission\u2019s total lifecycle cost \u2014 including development, launch and operations \u2014 is about $4.3 billion. After launch, Roman will spend about 100 days commissioning its instruments before beginning routine science observations from the Sun-Earth L2 Lagrange point, about one million miles (1.5 million kilometers) from Earth.<\/p>\n NASA\u2019s Live Coverage Schedule<\/p>\n Launch day coverage will be available on the NASA website<\/a>, including the livestream and blog. The coverage is as follows:<\/p>\n Sunday, Aug. 30, 2026: <\/p>\n 6:20 a.m. EDT: Launch coverage begins.7:26 a.m. EDT: Launch9:30 a.m. EDT: Postlaunch news conference with NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman and other NASA staff.<\/p>\n Roman’s Primary mirror is the same size as Hubble’s. <\/p>\n NASA\/Chris GunnA Telescope Designed To See The Bigger Picture<\/p>\n Named after NASA\u2019s first chief astronomer, Dr. Nancy Grace Roman, the observatory has often been described as combining Hubble\u2019s sharp vision with a panoramic field of view. That wider perspective comes from Roman\u2019s Wide Field Instrument, which pairs the same 2.4-meter (7.9-foot) primary mirror as Hubble with a field of view more than 100 times larger. Over its five-year prime mission, it will map more than two billion galaxies, collect about 20 petabytes of science data and survey more sky than Hubble has observed during more than three decades in orbit. Roman\u2019s headline science goals are ambitious enough: investigate the mysterious dark energy driving the accelerating expansion of the universe, produce the most detailed maps yet of dark matter and conduct the largest survey of planets beyond the solar system ever attempted. Roman will also search for around 100,000 new exoplanets, many orbiting much farther from their stars than those discovered by missions such as Kepler and TESS.<\/p>\n Ready For Liftoff<\/p>\n Behind the scientific promise lies years of engineering and months of intensive preparation. The observatory has been fueled, launch teams have rehearsed every stage of the mission, and, once in space, engineers will spend about 100 days commissioning the telescope before routine science begins. During that time, Roman will deploy its systems, align its optics, activate its instruments and make the million-mile journey to the Sun-Earth L2 Lagrange point, where it will join the James Webb Space Telescope.<\/p>\n Further ReadingForbesNASA\u2019s Roman Space Telescope To Launch This Month \u2014 Nine Months Ahead Of ScheduleBy Jamie Carter<\/a>Forbes10 Things To Know About NASA\u2019s Roman Space Telescope Before Its Aug. 30 LaunchBy Jamie Carter<\/a>ForbesDragonfly: NASA\u2019s Most Exciting Mission This Century Is Taking ShapeBy Jamie Carter<\/a>Forbes\u2018Exciting\u2019 Earth-Like Planet Found Close To The Solar SystemBy Jamie Carter<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Topline NASA is about to launch the first of what promises to be a new generation of space…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":874554,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[303485,49,48,41938,826,3511,129933,36567,4983,41939,166067,303484,66],"class_list":["post-874553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-aug-30-2026-launch","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-dark-energy","tag-dark-matter","tag-exoplanets","tag-falcon-heavy","tag-hubble-space-telescope","tag-james-webb-space-telescope","tag-nancy-grace-roman-space-telescope","tag-nasa-telescope","tag-roman-space-telescope-launch","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=874553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874553\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/874554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=874553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=874553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=874553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}