UNITED STATES: Nasa unveiled a new telescope on Wednesday to scan vast swathes of the universe for planets outside our solar system and probe the mysteries of dark matter and dark energy.
The Roman space telescope is expected to discover tens of thousands of planets, possibly offering clarity abut how many could be out there.
“Roman will give the Earth a new atlas of the universe,” Nasa administrator Jared Isaacman told a news conference at the Goddard Space Flight Centre in Maryland, where the telescope went on display.
The 12-metre, silvery contraption with massive solar panels will be transported to Florida ahead of a launch into space aboard a SpaceX rocket planned for September at the earliest.
Roman, which took more than $4 billion and over a decade to build, is named after astronomer Nancy Grace Roman, nicknamed the “Mother of Hubble” for her role in developing the landmark space telescope.
