New Space Telescope Could Reveal What Universe Is Made Of

A new space telescope is about to change everything we know about planets beyond our solar system and the mysterious force shaping our universe's fate.

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope launched from Florida on August 30 and is now traveling to its new home at a Sun-Earth balance point, a million miles away. Named after NASA's first chief of astronomy and the "mother" of the Hubble Telescope, Roman joins the Webb telescope in one of the most comfortable spots in space for cosmic observation.

What makes Roman special goes beyond its impressive engineering. The telescope came in under budget and ahead of schedule, a rare achievement for NASA missions. Its primary mirror was even donated from a canceled spy satellite program, giving new life to incredible technology.

After a testing period, Roman will officially begin its dual mission next year. Half its time will focus on discovering and photographing planets around other stars. The other half tackles something even more profound: figuring out what makes up most of our universe.

Roman carries the world's most advanced coronagraph, a sophisticated instrument that blocks starlight to reveal the dim planets orbiting nearby. Unlike previous efforts that captured single pixels of distant worlds, Roman will photograph planets in stunning detail. It can detect planets billions of years old and even tell if they have atmospheres or clouds through spectroscopy.

By this time next year, we might see another star's version of Earth as more than just a dot.

Why This Inspires

The telescope's second mission addresses one of science's greatest mysteries: dark energy. Scientists discovered in 1998 that our universe is expanding faster over time, not slowing down as expected. Something invisible is pushing everything apart.

To make the math work, scientists theorized that dark energy makes up 68 percent of everything in existence. Normal matter, everything we can see and touch, accounts for just five percent. The rest is dark matter, another mystery scientists are slowly solving.

Recent observations suggest dark energy might not be constant after all. It may be changing over time, which would revolutionize our understanding of reality. Roman's powerful instruments will measure this effect across billions of years of cosmic history.

Will Percival, a professor working on related dark energy research, explained that we may need to modify our entire model of how the universe works. Roman's observations over the coming years will help determine if that's necessary.

The plucky telescope has big questions to answer, and humanity gets to come along for the ride.