Daily Junction.mobi portal

Search News World Business Tech TV Weather Stars More

Nasa’s new space telescope will tackle some of…

Science · July 24, 2026 · The Conversation · 6 min

The Nancy Grace Roman telescope will probe dark energy and discover exoplanets.

<div class="theconversation-article-body"> <figure> <img alt="Illustration of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope against the background of Hubble's 25th anniversary image." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/731889/original/file-20260423-71-m4m45y.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&rect=0%2C55%2C1451%2C836&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" /> <figcaption> The Nancy Grace Roman telescope could help answer some of the biggest cosmic questions. <a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ROMANNewModelV8RomanStill00049.png">Nasa</a> </figcaption> </figure>

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/noelia-noel-2408204">Noelia Noël</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-surrey-1201">University of Surrey</a>

Nasa is about to launch a space observatory that could help settle some of the biggest mysteries in modern astronomy. The Nancy Grace Roman space telescope will study how the universe began, what it is made of and how it has evolved over time.

<a href="https://science.nasa.gov/mission/roman-space-telescope/">The observatory</a> is named after Nasa’s first chief of <a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/astronomy-50">astronomy</a> and its first female executive. <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/people/nancy-roman/">Nancy Grace Roman</a>, who died in 2018 aged 93, made important contributions to our understanding of stars and played a crucial role in shaping Nasa’s space-based astronomy programme.

The telescope is undergoing final preparations ahead of a launch set to take place from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/nasa-targets-early-september-for-roman-space-telescope-launch/">in late August</a>. It is eight months ahead of its original schedule, and under budget – a rare feat for a Nasa flagship mission.

Unlike the <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/mission/webb/">James Webb space telescope</a>, which is designed to look at individual objects in extraordinary detail, Roman is built to survey the sky at scale. It will take in vast areas of the cosmos, allowing astronomers to build up a much broader picture of the universe and how it changes.

Roman has an unusual history. It began life as a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_National_Reconnaissance_Office_space_telescope_donation_to_NASA">“spare” spy satellite</a>, donated to Nasa by the US government agency responsible for gathering intelligence from space.

Roman carries two main instruments, added by Nasa. These are the <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/mission/roman-space-telescope/wide-field-instrument/">wide field instrument</a> and <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/mission/roman-space-telescope/coronagraph/">the coronagraph</a>. The wide field instrument will detect infrared light coming from the universe. Infrared light has wavelengths that are slightly longer than those of visible light. This allows the instrument to see through cosmic dust and look deeper into the cosmos.

<figure class="align-center zoomable"> <a aria-label="Zoomable image" href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/731748/original/file-20260422-57-cnfqqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Nancy Grace Roman, Nasa's first chief of astronomy, pictured at the agency's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, around 1972." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/731748/original/file-20260422-57-cnfqqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/731748/original/file-20260422-57-cnfqqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/731748/original/file-20260422-57-cnfqqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/731748/original/file-20260422-57-cnfqqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/731748/original/file-20260422-57-cnfqqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/731748/original/file-20260422-57-cnfqqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/731748/original/file-20260422-57-cnfqqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a> <figcaption> Nancy Grace Roman, Nasa’s first chief of astronomy, pictured at the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, around 1972. <a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/hubble_esa/44477663304/in/photolist-2aLkDHS-Fv3zVg-EFvSN1-FsLfCy-EFQz3n-FbSnmq-Fv3M4D-Fv3Ybt-25eF9YR-22rMwT-Fv443x-FbS6AN-Fv4HN8-EFQy74-AhMGdJ-FbT4rW-FsKTjm-5dopRY-CLDYxA-EFwsXJ-EFQCWp-EFwUuf-EFRava-Fv4H4T-W61rLT-EFQQB8-EFRrGt-Fv4M7n-EFQQg8-YL543f-FsKCaU-Fv3RLe-Fv4nT8-Fv4gpB-EFQSnT-FsLtjq-EFvF49-zoc1cP-A3tCuW-EFwB4o-EFvDuC-EFvYdj-9yrf8K-zo46g3-FbSGbj-EFR8AZ-FbSiHo-FsKSuq-FsL117-EFvDP5">Nasa/Esa</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a> </figcaption> </figure>

Its field of view – how much sky it sees when pointed in a given direction – is <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/image-article/wide-field-instrument-poster/">about 100 times that</a> of the <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/mission/hubble/observatory/design/instruments/">Hubble space telescope’s</a> infrared camera, but with similar sharpness. The wide field instrument’s capabilities also mean it can survey the cosmos about 1,000 times faster than Hubble. Observations that would take Hubble centuries could be completed by Roman in a fraction of the time.

<a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2309.08672">The coronagraph</a> is designed to block the overwhelming glare of nearby stars. The idea is a bit like placing a hand in front of the Sun to make it easier to see something faint beside it.

By suppressing starlight, the coronagraph will allow astronomers to test methods for directly imaging faint planets and discs of dust and gas around other stars.

<figure> <iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5hBFbqd62H0?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe> <figcaption>The Roman telescope is ready for launch (Nasa Goddard Space Flight Center)</figcaption> </figure>

Over the course of its mission, Roman is expected to detect billions of galaxies and tens of billions of stars. Roman’s combination of scale and precision gives the telescope its power. It will see enough of the sky to reveal broad cosmic patterns, while measuring galaxies and stars accurately enough to detect small but important effects.

<h2>Cosmic evolution</h2>

Modern cosmology – the study of how the universe originated and evolved – rests on a <a href="https://astrobites.org/2025/01/06/lambda_cdm/">remarkably successful model</a>. According to this model of the universe, ordinary matter – the stuff that makes up stars, planets and people — accounts for just a small fraction of everything out there. The rest of the cosmos is made up of two unseen, mysterious components.

The first is <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/mission/roman-space-telescope/dark-matter/">dark matter</a>, which makes up about 25% of the universe. This form of matter neither reflects nor absorbs light, yet its gravitational pull helps hold galaxies together. The mission could help shed light <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/mission/roman-space-telescope/dark-matter/">on the nature</a> of dark matter by tracking how it has shaped the formation of galaxies across different epochs of cosmic history.

<figure class="align-center "> <img alt="Galaxies" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/735115/original/file-20260511-69-y0debp.gif?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/735115/original/file-20260511-69-y0debp.gif?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=323&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/735115/original/file-20260511-69-y0debp.gif?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=323&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/735115/original/file-20260511-69-y0debp.gif?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=323&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/735115/original/file-20260511-69-y0debp.gif?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/735115/original/file-20260511-69-y0debp.gif?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/735115/original/file-20260511-69-y0debp.gif?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"> <figcaption> The main model for how the universe evolved has been highly successful, but there are hints of problems. <a class="source" href="https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10128/">Nasa</a> </figcaption> </figure>

Page 1 of 2 · Next »

Home · Search · Sitemap · About · Full site