NASA awards SpaceX contract to provide launch services for its next telescope mission

NASA has awarded SpaceX the contract to provide launch services for its next telescope mission, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope.

It is an indefinite-delivery contract that will cost NASA approximately $255 million to launch the new telescope.

However, the contract specifies that the telescope will not be launched before October 2026.

The Roman Space Telescope will be launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket.

It will include a spacecraft with a 2.4-meter primary mirror to investigate topics such as the effects of dark energy and dark matter, as well as exoplanet hunting.

The Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) was previously named, but it was later renamed.