Summary

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy on Aug. 30, beginning its three-month journey to its final orbit. The mission will study dark matter, dark energy and exoplanets while testing a coronagraph designed for future direct imaging of Jupiter-like planets.

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope launched at 7:26 a.m. EDT on Aug. 30 aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The observatory has now begun a three-month, million-mile journey to its final orbit.

Roman is designed to survey large areas of the sky with a wide field of view and infrared vision. Its observations will support research into dark matter, dark energy and planets beyond the Solar System, while also enabling a broad range of astronomical studies.

Contents

A launch followed by early deployments

NASA’s ground control team at the Goddard Space Flight Center began receiving Roman’s telemetry seven minutes after liftoff. The Falcon Heavy performed as expected and separated from the observatory 31 minutes into the flight. After separating from the rocket’s center core, the boosters returned safely to the launch site for refurbishment.

The mission team confirmed deployment of Roman’s solar panels and its lower instrument sun shade one hour and 23 minutes after launch. During the next several days, controllers are scheduled to deploy the spacecraft’s high-gain antenna and visor-like aperture cover, begin the first of two mid-course corrections and power on the Coronagraph Instrument.

These early activities prepare the spacecraft for its journey and later scientific operations. The source describes the observatory as still being in transit rather than at its final observing location.

A wide-field view of cosmic history

Roman combines a large field of view with infrared observations. A wide field of view allows a telescope to capture a larger region of the sky in each observation, making it useful for surveys that cover extensive areas. Infrared capability helps astronomers study light that is shifted toward longer wavelengths and observe objects or structures that are difficult to examine using visible light alone.

NASA says Roman’s surveys will investigate dark matter and dark energy, two major components in current cosmological models. Dark matter is inferred from its gravitational effects, while dark energy is the name given to the phenomenon associated with the universe’s accelerating expansion. Roman will also search for and study exoplanets, the term for planets orbiting stars other than the Sun.

The mission’s survey data are expected to support research beyond those primary goals, because large astronomical surveys can be used by scientists to study many different populations of stars, galaxies and other cosmic objects.

A coronagraph for future exoplanet missions

Roman also carries the Coronagraph Instrument, designed and built by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Its immediate role is to demonstrate advanced hardware for studying planets around other stars.

A coronagraph blocks or suppresses much of a star’s bright light so that a much fainter nearby planet can be examined. This is technically difficult because the planet’s signal can be overwhelmed by the light from its host star. Roman’s coronagraph will take pictures of Jupiter-like planets, providing a technology demonstration rather than a search that directly images Earth-like worlds.

NASA says the instrument is intended to demonstrate capabilities that future missions such as the Habitable Worlds Observatory concept could use when attempting to image Earth-like planets in the search for signs of life. The coronagraph therefore connects Roman’s immediate mission to the development of later space telescopes, while Roman’s main observatory carries out its wider surveys of the cosmos.

Sources