NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Telescope: The $4.3 Billion Next-Generation Observatory Will Launch On SpaceX Falcon Heavy No Earlier Than August 30
According to NASA, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope arrived June 21 at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, marking the start of final prelaunch preparations before liftoff later this summer, eight months ahead of schedule.
After teams completed integration and testing at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, the nearly 18,000-pound spacecraft was loaded into a protective transportation container and driven to the port of Baltimore, where the agency’s Pegasus barge transported it down the Atlantic coast to Kennedy’s Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility. Its transport container has been nicknamed “the Chariot,” in keeping with the Roman theme.
During its time at the facility, technicians will test six solar panels, inspect thermal blankets, and load approximately 290 gallons of hydrazine fuel. NASA is targeting launch no earlier than August 30 on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy from Launch Complex 39A.
The observatory carries a $4.3 billion price tag and is NASA’s next flagship astrophysics mission after Webb. Once in orbit, the telescope will survey exoplanets, planet-forming disks, dark energy, and potentially a billion galaxies, travelling to the second Sun-Earth Lagrange point.
Named for NASA’s first Chief of Astronomy, Roman is not replacing Hubble or Webb. It is complementing them with something neither can do: sweep the entire sky fast.
Check out our previous coverage of space exploration and telescope missions here.
