NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Set for Launch from SpaceX Falcon Heavy Rocket at Kennedy Space Centre

Florida: NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is scheduled to lift off aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 4:56 pm IST on Saturday, beginning a mission to investigate dark energy, exoplanets and astrophysics. In a post on X, NASA said that the telescope is scheduled to launch at 7:26 am ET (1126 UTC), i.e., 4:56 pm IST on August 30, with live coverage beginning at 6:20 a.m. ET (1020 UTC), i.e., 3:50 p.m. IST.

"Time to explore the cosmos! @NASARoman is ready to lift off from @NASAKennedy at 7:26am ET (1126 UTC) on Aug. 30. Join us here for our live coverage beginning at 6:20am ET (1020 UTC)," NASA said. In a separate post on X, NASA's Kennedy Space Center said the mission was scheduled for Saturday morning and provided details about the weather conditions, spacecraft and launch vehicle.

"Tomorrow morning, NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is scheduled to take flight!" NASA's Kennedy Space Center said. Weather officials with the US Space Force's Space Launch Delta 45 have predicted a 50 per cent chance of favourable weather conditions for the launch, with the primary concern being the Cumulus Cloud Rule.

"Weather officials with the U.S. Space Force's Space Launch Delta 45 have predicted a 50% chance of favorable weather conditions for tomorrow morning's launch, with the primary concern being the Cumulus Cloud Rule," NASA's Kennedy Space Center said in an X post. Named after NASA's first chief astronomer, the next-generation observatory is designed to address major questions about dark energy, exoplanets and astrophysics.

"Named after NASA's first chief astronomer, this next-generation observatory will set out to answer essential questions about dark energy, exoplanets, and astrophysics. With a field of view at least 100 times larger than Hubble's, Roman could measure light from a billion galaxies in its lifetime!" it said.

The spacecraft weighs more than 20,000 pounds when fully fueled and is more than 42 feet long and over 14 feet wide when fully deployed. "Once in space, Roman will orbit roughly one million miles from Earth at the second Sun-Earth Lagrange point (L2), the same orbit as the James Webb Space Telescope," the post added.

"At 7:26 a.m. EDT, Roman is set to launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Kennedy Space Center. About 8 minutes after liftoff, listen for the double sonic booms as the two side boosters return to Landing Zones 2 and 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station!" NASA's Kennedy Space Center said.

NASA's Launch Services Program is managing the Falcon Heavy launch service for the mission. "Based here at Kennedy, NASA's Launch Services Program (LSP) manages the Falcon Heavy launch service for this mission. Roman will be LSP's 109th primary mission! Roman also marks LSP's 14th primary mission to fly with SpaceX, and 4th to be launched on a Falcon Heavy," it said.

Also Read: Trump Calls Int Space Station During Visit to NASA Mission Control