NASA prepares to launch the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope

NASA is preparing to launch the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope no earlier than 7:26 AM Eastern time on August 30. The agency's live broadcast will begin at 6:20 AM and can be watched on NASA's website or SpaceX's account on X.

In late May, NASA engineers completed a final inspection of the telescope's primary mirror to confirm it had not been damaged during testing. In early June, the agency announced the launch would happen sooner than the previously planned September date.

The telescope is named after Nancy Grace Roman, NASA's first Chief of Astronomy, who was known as the "Mother of Hubble" for her key role in planning and developing that observatory. The new telescope has a field of view at least 100 times larger than Hubble's, allowing it to observe a much wider portion of the universe at once.

It was designed to apply different techniques to the study of dark energy, aiming to help answer questions about this mysterious force. The telescope can also block starlight to better detect exoplanets, providing scientists with more data to understand what makes a planet habitable and how common solar systems like ours might be.

The infrared telescope is already encapsulated inside a SpaceX Falcon Heavy fairing at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida and will launch from Launch Complex 39A. Should the August 30 attempt not go forward, NASA and SpaceX will try again on August 31 at 7:22 AM Eastern time.

Ahead of the launch, NASA will hold a mission science briefing with the Roman telescope team on August 29 at 9 AM ET, followed by a prelaunch news conference.