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An illustration of three concepts for the Habitable Worlds Observatory, NASA\u2019s next flagship space telescope after Roman. Credit: NASA Goddard\/Conceptual Image Labs<\/p>\nLight is the fastest phenomenon in the universe, clocking in at just under 300,000 kilometers per second. The telescopes that observe that light, from radio waves to gamma rays, are built at rather slower speeds.<\/p>\n
Take, as one example, the James Webb Space Telescope. NASA began feasibility studies for the mission in the mid-1990s and selected contractors to design and build it in 2002. However, JWST did not launch until the end of 2021, after major cost and schedule overruns.<\/p>\n
Now, NASA wants to accelerate that pace. The agency wants to prove it can build and launch major astrophysics missions faster and more predictably. From bringing the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope to the launch pad months ahead of schedule to reimagining smaller missions, NASA is rethinking how it develops space observatories.
And it\u2019s doing so while a team building a privately funded space telescope aims to outpace the government and move faster still.<\/p>\n
\u2018Don\u2019t tell me we can\u2019t go fast\u2019<\/p>\n
NASA\u2019s first step in speeding up development of missions is avoiding delays with its next major astrophysics mission, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. So far, it\u2019s succeeding.<\/p>\n
During a session at an American Astronomical Society (AAS) conference in Phoenix Jan. 5, project officials said Roman \u2014 a space telescope with a mirror the size of Hubble but a much wider field of view \u2014 was on track for a launch as soon as September, months ahead of its formal launch commitment date of May 2027.<\/p>\n
Julie McEnery, senior project scientist for Roman at the Goddard Space Flight Center, even gave a specific launch date and time: Sept. 28 at 6:40 a.m. Eastern. \u201cIt\u2019s really real,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re at the finish line here.\u201d<\/p>\n
NASA completed assembly of the spacecraft in November, which is now undergoing testing at Goddard. It is scheduled to ship to the Kennedy Space Center in June to prepare for its launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have not made compromises. This mission meets or exceeds all science requirements,\u201d McEnery said. \u201cThe mission that we described at the mission confirmation review is the one that we built.\u201d<\/p>\n
For the last few years, NASA has emphasized the importance of keeping Roman within its cost and schedule commitments to demonstrate it had learned the lessons of JWST and win support for future large space telescopes, like the proposed Habitable Worlds Observatory. Besides running ahead of schedule, Roman has also remained within its budget, with a total lifecycle cost of $4.3 billion.<\/p>\n
While Roman is still several months from launch, agency officials are ready to take a victory lap. \u201cI don\u2019t want to hear that we can\u2019t do flagships on time and on schedule. The Roman team has proven we can,\u201d said Shawn Domagal-Goldman, director of NASA\u2019s astrophysics division, at an agency town hall the same day at the AAS conference.<\/p>\n
Roman was just one example he gave about how he wanted to accelerate development of astrophysics missions. Another is an effort to reboost Swift, a gamma-ray telescope launched in 2004 and whose orbit is decaying from atmospheric drag. NASA said last year that the spacecraft was in danger of reentering as soon as late 2026 without action.<\/p>\n
Last fall, NASA awarded a $30 million contract to satellite-servicing startup Katalyst Space to develop a spacecraft \u2014 a repurposed tech demo mission the company was already building \u2014 to dock with Swift and raise its orbit. That mission is scheduled to launch as soon as this June on a Pegasus XL.<\/p>\n
If the reboost mission sticks to that schedule, \u201cwe\u2019ll have gone from the board room to the launch pad in about 12 months,\u201d Domagal-Goldman said. That pace, motivated by the urgency to reach Swift before it reenters, is far greater than even cubesat-class astrophysics missions that can take several years to develop.<\/p>\n
There is, he acknowledged, a risk the mission won\u2019t work: A reboost like this has not been attempted before, and this will be Katalyst Space\u2019s first mission. The chance of that, he argued, was balanced by the benefits of keeping Swift in service for years to come.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t tell me we can\u2019t go fast. Don\u2019t tell me we can\u2019t identify the places where it\u2019s appropriate to take risk,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s a decent chance this is not going to work, and it\u2019s still the right thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
The emphasis on speed extends to future missions. NASA is revising an announcement of opportunity (AO), a call for proposals, that it delayed last year for a Small Explorer astrophysics mission. NASA is tightening the review process, skipping a round of feasibility studies, to allow the selected mission to launch on its original schedule despite delaying the release of the AO by a year.<\/p>\n
Domagal-Goldman said he is interested in other ways to speed up the AO process for future missions, with a forum planned later this year to solicit ideas. A separate \u201cinnovation workshop\u201d in the spring will explore how emerging capabilities in the commercial space sector, such as new large launch vehicles, can help mission development.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re trying to find ways to go fast,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Accelerating habitable worlds<\/p>\n
The flagship telescope that will follow Roman, the Habitable World Observatory (HWO), will offer a worthy test.<\/p>\n
NASA has started early planning work on the mission, which is expected to launch no sooner than the early 2040s. <\/p>\n
Immediately after the NASA town hall at the AAS conference, the agency announced it selected seven companies to perform relatively low-cost studies on various technologies that could be incorporated in the mission, such as the telescope\u2019s mirror, thrusters and ability to be serviced.<\/p>\n
An illustration of three concepts for the Habitable Worlds Observatory, NASA\u2019s next flagship space telescope after Roman. Credit: NASA Goddard\/Conceptual Image Labs<\/p>\n
The studies are part of broader efforts by NASA to mature the design and critical systems needed for the observatory before starting development: one of the lessons learned from JWST. NASA did not release a total contract value but these are relatively small studies on the order of a few million dollars total.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to take a lot of time up front to not just understand the scope of this project but also understanding the architectures that deliver the science,\u201d Domagal-Goldman said at a conference session Jan. 6.<\/p>\n
That would allow the mission to go quicker later, he argued. \u201cThe things you do to move faster on the larger-scale missions at the outset are things we\u2019re asking this community, and the people you work with outside this room, to do over the next few years,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
NASA has not announced any changes to the development schedule for the mission, which calls for it to be ready to go into development in the early 2030s and for launch as soon as the early 2040s. However, it fits into a broader push by NASA to accelerate development of astrophysics missions \u2014 a push coming from the very top.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love the flagship missions that we have in the science portfolio. I just want to see more of them,\u201d NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said at an agency town hall Dec. 19, the day after he was sworn in. \u201cIt would be great if we were launching flagship missions with even a greater cadence.\u201d<\/p>\n
A billionaire\u2019s bet on a space telescope<\/p>\n
One of the most popular sessions at AAS was a side meeting Jan. 7 with a rather anodyne name. The first clue that the session would be unusual was an open bar in the hallway outside the meeting room, a rarity at a conference where anything more than coffee is considered a luxury.<\/p>\n
However, the astronomers attending were not merely interested in a mid-afternoon cocktail. A crowd packed the room and overflowed into the hallway to hear about one of the most ambitious efforts yet to develop private observatories. The session? \u201cThe Schmidt Observatory System \u2014 More Astrophysics for More People.\u201d<\/p>\n
Schmidt Sciences, founded by former Google chief executive Eric Schmidt and his wife Wendy, used the session to unveil the Schmidt Observatory System, a set of three ground-based optical and radio observatories and one space telescope the organization is paying to develop.<\/p>\n
\u201cThroughout the history of astrophysics, discovery has happened in leaps and bounds that coincided with technological improvements,\u201d said Arpita Roy, head of the astrophysics and space science institute at Schmidt Sciences. \u201cWe think these observatories not only answer existing questions but open up new discovery space.\u201d<\/p>\n
Philanthropic funding of ground-based observatories goes back centuries, and many major telescopes in operation today have relied partially or entirely on private funding. But previous efforts at privately funded large space telescopes have floundered.<\/p>\n
More than a decade ago, the B612 Foundation proposed Sentinel, a space telescope to look for near Earth objects. The organization struggled to raise funding, though, and dropped Sentinel after NASA started a similar mission, NEO Surveyor.<\/p>\n
Around the same time, another private group, the BoldlyGo Institute, sought to raise money for private space missions, but made little progress.<\/p>\n
The difference here is that the Schmidt Observatory System is backed by a billionaire who has committed money for all four observatories. \u201cWhat we\u2019re discussing here is a very large, purely charitable gift from Eric and Wendy Schmidt,\u201d said Stu Feldman, president of Schmidt Sciences.<\/p>\n
Confirming rumors that have been floating in the astronomy community for years, Feldman said his organization first designed a very large space telescope with a mirror 6.5 meters across: the same diameter as the James Webb Space Telescope, but in a single piece rather than in segments. The organization went so far as to acquire a mirror blank, the glass from which the mirror would be ground, of that size.<\/p>\n
The problem was that aspects of the design proved infeasible, notably the ability to get it into its desired orbit in the near future. \u201cStarship schedules are malleable,\u201d he said. \u201cWe simply said it\u2019s not going to work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Instead, in the fall of 2024 Schmidt Sciences pivoted to a smaller telescope that could be launched by medium-class rockets. By November 2025, the organization was ready to proceed with such a space telescope, called Lazuli.<\/p>\n
Changing schedule and cost curves<\/p>\n
While smaller than the original design, Lazuli remains an impressive observatory. It will have a mirror three meters across, larger than the 2.4-meter mirrors on Hubble and Roman. It will carry a wide-field camera, a spectrometer and a coronagraph, an instrument that blocks light from a star to see any planets orbiting it.<\/p>\n
\u201cLazuli is going to deliver Hubble-class image quality,\u201d said Pete Klupar, executive director of the Lazuli project at Schmidt Sciences and former director of engineering at NASA\u2019s Ames Research Center. He added that the project would take three years and cost in the range of hundreds of millions of dollars \u2014 an order of magnitude below previous flagship astrophysics missions.<\/p>\n
Achieving those goals involves using commercially available components. He estimated that 80% of Lazuli will use off-the-shelf hardware with flight heritage. The remaining 20% primarily involves some elements of the telescope itself and its instruments.<\/p>\n
Klupar said the organization has found ways to streamline development to enable launch as soon as mid-2028. That includes doing spacecraft assembly near the launch site in Florida and potentially skipping some environmental tests, like acoustics and vibration.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe convinced ourselves that there may be a path to eliminate some of those system-level tests,\u201d he said, based on earlier work on the larger design.<\/p>\n
Another factor helping to speed development of the spacecraft is the management structure. \u201cWe have one shareholder,\u201d he said, a reference to Eric and Wendy Schmidt.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis eliminates analysis paralysis and allows us to take credible, calculated risks that others just can\u2019t do.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the astronomers who crowded into the room were intrigued by Lazuli, there was also an undercurrent of skepticism. They privately doubted the ability of any organization to build a Hubble-class space telescope on the schedule and budget of commercial geostationary communications satellites that are produced on assembly lines.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of people don\u2019t believe we can do it,\u201d Klupar acknowledged. \u201cWe\u2019re on an aggressive but achievable path.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI will be utterly shocked if everything is on time,\u201d admitted Feldman. He was confident, though, that Lazuli can achieve one of its goals, \u201cto change the schedule and cost curve of astronomy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSpeed is its own form of intelligence,\u201d said Klupar, citing Vannevar Bush.
Astronomers are about to find out how smart both NASA and private organizations can be when it comes to space missions. <\/p>\n
This article first appeared in the February 2026 issue of SpaceNews Magazine.<\/p>\n
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