rki.news | Source: Anadolu
WASHINGTON: NASA has completed fueling the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, marking a major milestone ahead of its scheduled Aug. 30 launch to explore some of the universe’s greatest mysteries.
The telescope was loaded with hydrazine propellant and compressed gas at the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It is set to launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket before traveling to the Sun-Earth L2 Lagrange Point, approximately 1.5 million kilometres from Earth.
The Roman Space Telescope will investigate the nature of dark energy and dark matter, search for thousands of planets beyond the solar system, and examine how galaxies formed and evolved over billions of years.
NASA said the observatory will complement the James Webb Space Telescope by offering a field of view nearly 100 times larger. While Webb captures highly detailed images of specific cosmic targets, Roman will survey vast regions of the sky, enabling scientists to identify new objects and phenomena for further study.
The mission honours Nancy Grace Roman, NASA’s first chief astronomer, whose pioneering vision helped lay the foundation for the Hubble Space Telescope and transformed modern space astronomy.