Spacecraft
Roman Space Telescope
The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, named after the astronomer who argued NASA into building Hubble. Its mirror is Hubble's size and its field of view is about a hundred times wider, so a survey that would have taken Hubble decades takes it months. It is looking for the effect of dark energy on how the universe expanded, and for planets around other stars by watching their gravity bend the light of stars behind them.
- Agency
- NASA
- Launched
- 2026-08-30 - still working
Path
On its way to the same L2 region as JWST and Euclid, which takes about a month from launch. Until it arrives the line here is a cruise rather than a loop, and it is drawn where it actually is rather than where it is going.
Along the way
- Launched on a Falcon Heavy, bound for L2
Everything the map shows is worked out in your browser from published orbital data - nothing on it is a stored picture of where things were.