Explained: How NASA's Next Big Space Telescope Will Study Mysterious 'Dark Matter'

Did you think that our space ambitions were ending with the legendary James Webb Space Telescope? Think again, for NASA has much bigger plans for expanding humanity's knowledge pool about space.

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is an upcoming infrared space telescope that will attempt to understand dark energy while also searching for planets outside our solar system.

Galaxy cluster Cl 0024+17. Image in right accounts for dark matter. / NASA

What makes Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope different?

Set for a launch in 2026 or 2027, the telescope will have a wide field of view to take even bigger pictures of the universe! The mission length is set at five years, but telescopes have a history of outliving these estimates, take the iconic Hubble for example!

The Roman telescope will be situated at Lagrange point 2, a point of gravitational stability situated between Earth and the Sun that's about 1.5 million kilometres from Earth, Space.com reported.

GSFC/SVS

In 2010, work on the telescope began when it was still known as the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST). In May 2020, it was renamed to pay homage to Nancy Grace Roman, NASA's first chief astronomer who passed away in 2018. Roman was referred to as "the mother of Hubble" for she was largely involved in creation of programmes aimed at expanding our knowledge of the universe, culminating in the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope in 1990.

Also read: Wonders Of Space: Best Photos Clicked By James Webb Space Telescope In 2022

When launched, the telescope would serve a myriad of purposes. It could study black holes, exoplanets, and more. It is being developed primarily by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

The expected launch cost of the Roman telescope is slated to be $255 million, according to NASA. At launch, it will weight 4,166 kilograms and carry a payload of 2,191 kilograms.

NASA

Its primary mirror will be the same diameter as Hubble - 2.4 metres and it'll weight about 186 kilograms. Owing to this mirror, the telescope will have a 0.281-degree square field of view and would transmit light to two main instruments - the Wide Field Instrument and the Coronagraph Instrument.

Owing to its barrel-like shape, the space observatory will block unwanted light from the Sun, allowing it to measure light from a billion galaxies over 5.5 years, allowing it to study dark energy.

NASA

Why study dark energy?

About 68% of the universe's energy and matter content is made up of dark energy. Even then, we have little idea about what it actually is. With Roman, scientists hope to study the influence of dark energy on the universe.

NASA

The Wide Field Instrument on the Roman telescope will help scientists understand dark matter by charting out how matter is distributed across the universe. It will also study how the universe has expanded since it was 500 million-years-old, about 4% of its current age, as Space.com stated.

Also read: James Webb Telescope Learns Astonishing Things About Saturn's Moon Titan

By studying supernovas (giant explosions that mark the end of a star's life cycle), the Roman Space Telescope will attempt to find the first first traces of dark energy.

NASA

With this observation, scientists may eventually get a better idea of how dark energy has spread over time.

What do you think about humanity's ambitious plans to understand the mysterious guiding force of space? Let us know in the comments below. For more in the world of technology and science, keep reading Indiatimes.com.