| Astrophysics (Index) | About |
The Roman Space Telescope (RST, or Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope) is a new 2.4-m near infrared NASA space telescope for dark energy/cosmology and extra-solar planet research, including a coronagraph for exoplanet direct imaging. Mission plans also include significant surveying for gravitational microlensing transients, e.g., to discover difficult to see astronomical objects such as planets including field planets, brown dwarfs, low mass stars, and compact objects. RST was launched on August 30, 2026, and is on its way to an orbit at L2 to carry out a 5-year primary mission with potential for extension. Instruments:
Current survey plans include
Much of the telescope, including the mirror, is a surplus National Reconnaissance Office telescope with the same mirror diameter as HST (2.4 meters) but a shorter focal length, thus a larger field of view. An earlier name of RST was WFIRST for Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope. The WFIRST proposal initially (2011-2012) specified a new 1.3-meter telescope. While the current plan was under consideration but not yet adopted, it was termed WFIRST-AFTA (Astrophysics Focused Telescope Assets). WFIRST was essentially a rename of the JDEM (Joint Dark Energy Mission) proposal (of circa 2005-2010), a mission plan superseding various dark energy research proposals, including SNAP (Supernova Acceleration Probe), Destiny (Dark Energy Space Telescope), and ADEPT (Advanced Dark Energy Physics Telescope).