Eight months early and under budget, the Roman Telescope is ready to launch

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is ready to launch eight months ahead of schedule and under budget, with a total cost of $3.2 billion, saving $150 million compared to initial estimates. This astronomical payload will study dark energy and exoplanets using a 300-megapixel wide-field imager, covering 100 times more sky than #3's Hubble Space Telescope in a single observation. Its 2.4-meter mirror outpaces the average new telescope launch by 12 months, enabling it to map 1 billion galaxies within the first year.