NASA space telescope launches with wide-field imaging and optical systems
NewsAugust 31, 2026
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Florida. NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope launched from Kennedy Space Center with optical, imaging, and radiation-hardened electronics supplied by BAE Systems and L3Harris, the companies announced in statements.
The observatory is designed to study planets, stars, galaxies, and the expansion of the universe. Its Wide Field Instrument (WFI) will provide a field of view at least 100 times larger than that of the Hubble Space Telescope and is expected to survey the sky at rates up to 1,000 times faster, according to the statements.
L3Harris supplied Roman’s 2.4-meter Optical Telescope Assembly (OTA) and radiation-hardened electronics for operations about 1 million miles from Earth, while BAE Systems developed the WFI’s opto-mechanical assembly, including its optical bench, thermal-control system, precision mechanisms, optics, and electronics, the companies say.
