NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Arrives In Florida (spaceflightnow.com) 38
NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope has arrived at Kennedy Space Center ahead of a Falcon Heavy launch targeted for no earlier than August 30. The observatory will survey the sky about 1,000 times faster than Hubble with a field of view at least 100 times wider, helping scientists study dark matter, dark energy, and exoplanets. Spaceflight Now reports: NASA's next great observatory, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, arrived at the Kennedy Space Center aboard the agency's massive Pegasus barge late Sunday morning. The spacecraft was nestled inside its protective case, which NASA nicknamed the "Chariot" in keeping with the "Roman" theme. That said, telescope is named not for the ancient empire, but instead for NASA's first Chief of Astronomy, Nancy Grace Roman. "She was a key person in our exploration of space. She understood that in order to better understand the universe, you have to go in space," said Lucas Paganini, the program executive for Roman. "That's why she's called the 'Mother of Hubble' because she made Hubble possible."
[...] Roman is designed to operate near a fixed point in space called Lagrange Point 2, about 1.5 million km away from the Earth on the side opposite the Sun. It's designed to operate there for a minimum of five years, but Paganini said with the propellant onboard, it will likely last for 10 years or more. The telescope is+ equipped with a 300 megapixel camera called the Wide Field Instrument, which features 18 detectors. It was developed by BAE Systems (formerly Ball Aerospace). "It's going to allow us to observe at least 100 times wider field of view than what we can do with Hubble. Same resolution, but a wider area, 1000 times faster," Paganini said. "So what takes Roman a year to observe, it would take Hubble thousands of years. So it's definitely much more efficient."
The observatory also features a chronograph instrument, developed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which will allow Roman to observe the faint light of exoplanets near their stars. Paganini said Roman will also help scientists better understand dark matter and dark energy, the combination of which he calls the "dark universe." "100 years ago, we discovered that the universe was expanding. 25 years ago, we discovered that it was expanding at an accelerated pace and that's what led to a Nobel Prize," Paganini said. "What we don't quite know yet is if that acceleration is changing in ways. We don't know if it's actually dark energy, what is producing it, or is it simply that we don't understand gravity at all. "So eventually, we'll see if the laws of physics that we use these days are the right ones for what we are observing. But at the end is, we're trying to understand a very human question, which is where do we come from and where are wea heading in this universe that is our neighborhood?"
[...] Roman is designed to operate near a fixed point in space called Lagrange Point 2, about 1.5 million km away from the Earth on the side opposite the Sun. It's designed to operate there for a minimum of five years, but Paganini said with the propellant onboard, it will likely last for 10 years or more. The telescope is+ equipped with a 300 megapixel camera called the Wide Field Instrument, which features 18 detectors. It was developed by BAE Systems (formerly Ball Aerospace). "It's going to allow us to observe at least 100 times wider field of view than what we can do with Hubble. Same resolution, but a wider area, 1000 times faster," Paganini said. "So what takes Roman a year to observe, it would take Hubble thousands of years. So it's definitely much more efficient."
The observatory also features a chronograph instrument, developed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which will allow Roman to observe the faint light of exoplanets near their stars. Paganini said Roman will also help scientists better understand dark matter and dark energy, the combination of which he calls the "dark universe." "100 years ago, we discovered that the universe was expanding. 25 years ago, we discovered that it was expanding at an accelerated pace and that's what led to a Nobel Prize," Paganini said. "What we don't quite know yet is if that acceleration is changing in ways. We don't know if it's actually dark energy, what is producing it, or is it simply that we don't understand gravity at all. "So eventually, we'll see if the laws of physics that we use these days are the right ones for what we are observing. But at the end is, we're trying to understand a very human question, which is where do we come from and where are wea heading in this universe that is our neighborhood?"
Chronograph ? (Score:5, Informative)
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I admit that I chuckled picturing scientists climbing the scaffolding around a 9 ton telescope, and strapping a Timex to it. They'd probably forget to set it, and it would forever be stuck at 12:00, just like my microwave.
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Shame on Spaceflight Now for wasting OUR time by not doing that.
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It probably does also have one or more chronographs for precise timing.
Judean peoples front. (Score:1, Funny)
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Your "(sic)" is wrong.
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What retard is wasting mod points on this grammatically incorrect garbage?
He needs to fix the apostrophe, and re-post it 100 times.
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Re:"Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope" (Score:4, Insightful)
Is that cute, you got to use "woke" in a post about a space story. Don't forget to point this out to FOX for full credit. With enough credits, they'll give you a magic decoder ring so you can decode any story you want as "woke".
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And following that, a cabinet position in the Trump administration.
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If you can't see the hateful woke's virtue signalling, it's because you are one of them.
So I take it you will not explain anything you mean. We are supposed to read your mind about your grievances then.
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At least it isn't the Nancy Grace [wikipedia.org] Space Telescope, which would see nothing but victims everywhere.
I actually don't understand how the name is "woke". Wikipedia says it's also known as the "Roman Space Telescope". Is that better?
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Wikipedia says it's also known as the "Roman Space Telescope". Is that better?
Only if it wears a toga.
Re:"Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope" (Score:5, Funny)
Don't worry, there's been an executive order name change.
It's now the Donald J Trump and Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope.
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Oddly (Score:2)
How are we receiving its signals? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:How are we receiving its signals? (Score:5, Informative)
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Yes:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
L1 is where you want to put solar observatories. L2 is popular for not-solar observatories. L4 and L5 not as much, but there are some satellites like Stereo A and B that passed close, and the ESA plans to put a solar observatory actually at L5.
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Roman (Score:3)
I know who Nancy Grace is, but what is a Roman telescope?
NASA acronyms (Score:1)
Re:NASA acronyms (Score:4, Funny)
Speaking of acronyms, albeit terrestrial ones... when Seattle started work on a new trolley line in the city's South Lake Union area, they (very briefly) named it the South Lake Union Trolley.
I still can't figure out how they missed that.