NASA Roman Space Telescope launches in 20 days

In 20 days, a telescope that sees 100 times more sky than Hubble launches from Kennedy Space Center.

NASA s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope rides a SpaceX Falcon Heavy on August 30, eight months ahead of schedule. Its primary mirror matches Hubble s size, but the wide-field instrument gives it a panoramic view that Hubble could never match.

The primary mission: map dark energy across cosmic time, take a census of exoplanets using gravitational microlensing, and image planet-forming disks in unprecedented detail. Named after NASA s first chief astronomer, Roman will survey billions of galaxies to help answer why the universe is expanding faster than it should be.

For space fans, this is the most significant observatory launch since James Webb in 2021. Where Webb looks deep, Roman looks wide. Together they will cover the universe from its earliest galaxies to the structure of dark energy today.