National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Completes Assembly of Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope

Key facts

• The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has completed the final assembly of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.
• The telescope is scheduled to launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, with a target launch window as early as fall 2026 or by May 2027.
• The observatory features a primary mirror measuring about 2.4 metres and a field of view approximately 100 times greater than the Hubble Space Telescope.
• The mission's primary objectives include studying dark energy and dark matter, and mapping the distribution and movement of galaxies.
• The telescope will use a specialised coronagraph instrument to enable direct imaging of exoplanets and their surrounding disks.
• The observatory will be positioned at Lagrange Point 2, located nearly one million miles from Earth.