GREENBELT, Md.—On Tuesday, NASA invited the press to look at the fully assembled Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which is now ready to join the ranks of the great observatories in orbit, ahead of its September launch. The Roman Space Telescope (NGRST), named after a key figure in the planning of the Hubble Space Telescope, is notably distinct from hardware like the Hubble and Webb, as it’s designed around a wide-field view and massive imaging system that will allow it to send back 1.4 terabytes of data to Earth every day.
It also has an unusual history that began when NASA’s planning intersected with surplus spy hardware.
In from the cold
Many of the gases in our atmosphere absorb infrared wavelengths, contributing to the greenhouse effect that has helped keep the planet habitable for us. But that effect also makes infrared astronomy from Earth extremely difficult. That’s unfortunate, as a number of important phenomena, from the earliest galaxies to the features of exoplanet atmospheres, are only detectable at infrared wavelengths. There have been a number of infrared-specific telescopes put into space, notably the Spitzer, one of the original suite of Great Observatories.
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