The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced that SpaceX will launch the new Roman Space Telescope a few years from now.
It is currently in construction and will launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida between October 2026 and May 2027.
Among the mysteries that NASA hopes the Roman Space Telescope will reveal are dark energy, dark matter, and other astrophysics and planetary science subjects that have confounded specialists for years.
TITUSVILLE, FLORIDA - APRIL 11: People watch as the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket lifts off from launch pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on April 11, 2019 in Titusville, Florida. The rocket is carrying a communications satellite built by Lockheed Martin into orbit.
NASA: SpaceX Falcon Heavy Rocket to Bring Roman Space Telescope to Space
NASA, as earlier mentioned, said a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket would launch the Nancy Gace Roman Space Telescope into orbit from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
NASA has paid SpaceX around $255 million as part of the NLS II contract, which is intended to cover the launch service and other mission-related expenses.
The arrangement also qualifies as an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract, which the US General Services Administration defines as an agreement that offers an indefinite amount of services for a predetermined period.
According to the description, NASA may ask SpaceX to launch many Roman Space Telescopes into Earth's orbit for a certain amount of time. However, the space agency did not indicate when this time would finish.
The space agency has scheduled the launch of the telescope into Earth's L2 orbit for some time in October 2026.
NASA didn't specify why SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rockets needed to launch the Roman Space Telescope into orbit. Still, according to a story from Space.com, it desired the rocket's capacity to carry additional fuel.
NASA hopes to send the space telescope to a far-off orbit known as Lagrange 2 (L2), which is around 930,000 miles from Earth. This additional fuel may possibly be valuable to NASA's objectives.
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The James Webb Space Telescope also uses the L2 orbit to obtain the images it requires. Thus NASA's Roman Space Telescope won't be operating in isolation there.
Additionally, the 2010 Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Survey listed the Roman Space Telescope as the highest priority big space mission, underscoring its crucial significance for astronomy and research in general.
NASA appears to believe that having additional fuel for the journey is essential for the success of the Roman Space Telescope due to the orbit's distance and the mission's significance.
What Roman Space Telescope Will Do
According to Forbes, Roman will conduct a "Galactic Exoplanet Survey" that aims to identify exoplanets similar to Earth and aid scientists in understanding how the cosmos is expanding.
Due to its wide-angle lens, it will be able to map the Milky Way and other galaxies 100 times quicker than Hubble and will enable scientists to view the early universe's galaxies' surroundings.
Roman ultra-deep fields, which are far larger than either Hubble ultra-deep fields or even the first Webb deep field, can be produced by it.
Additionally, it will seek exoplanets like Earth and study dark matter and dark energy, two of contemporary astronomy's greatest mysteries.
In fact, Roman is predicted to discover hundreds of exoplanets, including at least 100 billion "rogue" planets, more than there are stars in the Milky Way! It will carry out that utilizing the amazing gravitational microlensing method.
Astronomers will be able to discover new kinds of exoplanets via microlensing that circle stars close to the Milky Way's core, thousands of light years away from Earth.
The method is comparable to the one used to demonstrate Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity during a total solar eclipse in 1919. Because of its extraordinary sensitivity, it can determine when the gravitational pull of planets and stars bends and intensifies light from stars that pass in front of them as seen via the telescope.
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