协调世界时8月30日11时26分，美国国家航空航天局（NASA）最新的旗舰级观测设备——南希·格雷斯·罗曼太空望远镜搭载太空探索技术公司（SpaceX）的“猎鹰重型”运载火箭，自佛罗里达州肯尼迪航天中心成功发射升空。该望远镜正启程前往距离地球约160万公里的预定轨道，以全方位拓展人类对宇宙深空的观测视野。该任务的核心载荷之一是宽视场相机（WFI），这台拥有3亿像素的尖端设备兼具可见光与红外波段成像能力，其观测视场高达哈勃太空望远镜摄像机的100倍以上，能够高效捕捉因宇宙膨胀而红移的遥远星系信号。
宽视场相机的首要科学使命聚焦于间接测绘暗物质与暗能量的时空影响，以及开展系外行星普查。通过分析光线在引力场作用下的弯曲与扭曲效应，天文学家将系统追踪这两大未知神秘组分在宇宙历史演化中的空间分布。在行星科学领域，该相机预计将发现约10万颗系外行星，相较于人类目前已知的约6000颗系外行星呈现出数量级的跃升，其主要探测手段是监测行星凌日经过恒星前方时引起的微弱光度骤降。
为实现对系外行星的直接成像，望远镜还配备了先进的日冕仪。康奈尔大学研究团队指出，该日冕仪能够精准遮挡中心母恒星的耀眼光芒，专门针对距离地球100光年以内的明亮邻近恒星系统进行高对比度成像；尽管目前的灵敏度尚无法捕捉微小的类地行星，但其足以对类木巨行星实现直接拍摄。尽管罗曼太空望远镜成功升空，其研发历程充满波折：特朗普政府曾在2025年试图将NASA科学预算大幅削减近50%并彻底取消该望远镜项目，而在发射后的新闻发布会上，特朗普却高调现身祝贺并宣称资金归功于己，使科学界对未来的科研拨款持续性深感复杂。
On August 30th at 11:26 Universal Time, NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope successfully launched from the Kennedy Space Centre aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, embarking toward an orbital position approximately 1.6m kilometres from Earth. Named after NASA’s inaugural chief astronomer, the observatory features the Wide Field Instrument (WFI), a 300-megapixel visible and infrared camera boasting an observational field of view over 100 times larger than that of the legacy Hubble Space Telescope. This expansive perspective allows astronomers to survey ancient, redshifted infrared starlight across unprecedented expanses of cosmic spacetime.
The WFI is engineered to resolve fundamental cosmic enigmas through indirect empirical detection and large-scale planetary mapping. By observing how gravitational distortions warp cosmological structures, researchers will map the pervasive historical footprints of dark matter and dark energy. Furthermore, the WFI is projected to discover approximately 100,000 exoplanets by tracking faint transit dips as orbiting bodies cross distant stars—a massive expansion compared to the roughly 6,000 exoplanets catalogued to date.
Complementing wide-field transit detection, the telescope incorporates an advanced coronagraph designed to facilitate direct planetary imaging by physically masking stellar glare. According to Cornell University researchers, the coronagraph targets bright host stars situated within 100 light-years of Earth; while resolving rocky terrestrial analogues remains beyond current technical limits, the instrument is capable of directly photographing Jupiter-sized gas giants. Despite this scientific triumph, the program navigated severe fiscal uncertainty: in 2025, the Trump administration attempted to slash NASA's science budget by nearly 50% and cancel the Roman telescope entirely, presenting a sharp ironic contrast when Donald Trump subsequently interrupted the post-launch press conference to take credit for financing the mission.
Source: NASA’s latest mission to map the cosmos takes off
Subtitle: It will study dark matter, dark energy and far-distant planets
Dateline: Sep 3rd 2026