NASA’s new telescope will transform our view of the universe. This is the story of its namesake

Nancy Grace Roman, NASA's first chief of astronomy. NASA/ESA

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is set to launch this weekend aboard a SpaceX rocket from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. When it becomes operational early next year, it will transform our view of the universe.

With a mirror the same size as the one in the Hubble Space Telescope but a field of view over 100 times larger, NASA’s newest tool is designed to survey vast swaths of sky quickly. It will hunt for dark energy’s fingerprints and detect perhaps 100,000 exoplanets.