NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope: One Last Look at The Mirror

NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope: One Last Look at The Mirror

The primary mirror for NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope has passed its final inspection. On May 20 and 21, 2026, engineers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., confirmed that no specks fell onto the mirrors during testing and that there are no defects in the coating or alignment. With this milestone complete, the primary mirror is ready for its next view—space.

Named after NASA’s first chief astronomer, the ‘mother of the Hubble Space Telescope,’ the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will have a field of view at least 100 times larger than Hubble's, potentially measuring light from a billion galaxies in its lifetime. This observatory will also be able to block starlight to directly see exoplanets and planet-forming disks, complete a statistical census of planetary systems in our galaxy, and address key questions in the areas of dark energy, exoplanets, and infrared astrophysics.

The Roman telescope and the discoveries it will enable: 
https://www.stsci.edu/roman

https://science.nasa.gov/mission/roman-space-telescope/

Dr. Nancy Grace Roman: 
https://science.nasa.gov/people/nancy-roman/

Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Producer: Scott Wiessinger (eMITS)
Videographers: Scott Wiessinger (eMITS), Sophia Roberts (eMITS) 
Editor: Scott Wiessinger (eMITS)
Science Writer: Ashley Balzer (eMITS)
Duration: 1 minute
Release Date: May 29, 2026

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #NASARoman #RomanSpaceTelescope #NancyGraceRoman #Exoplanets #Planets #SolarSystem #Stars #MilkyWayGalaxy #Galaxies #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescopes #NASAGoddard #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video