Nasa set to reveal billions of undiscovered galaxies and 'treasure trove' of planets

Susanna Siddell
Thu, 23 Apr 2026 21:08:48 +0000

Nasa is set to reveal billions of undiscovered galaxies, including a "treasure trove" of planets beyond our solar system.

The US space agency revealed its newest observatory, the $4billion Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, lauding it as a "sheer powerhouse".

"Roman will give the earth a new atlas of the universe," said Jared Isaacman, head of Nasa, as the agency displayed the finished telescope at Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.

The spacecraft is scheduled for launch in September and will orbit one million miles from Earth.

It will work alongside the Hubble and James Webb telescopes to carry out the most comprehensive cosmic survey ever attempted.

Roman will accomplish in a single month what would take Hubble a hundred years, capturing 100 times more sky in each image and working 1,000 times faster.

Dr Nicky Fox, Nasa's associate administrator for science, called it a "sheer powerhouse".

"Roman will discover tens of thousands of new planets outside our solar system," Dr Fox said.

"It will reveal billions of galaxies, thousands of supernovae and tens of billions of stars. That is extremely exciting," she added.

The observatory will transmit 1.4 terabytes of data daily, compared to the 172 terabytes Hubble collected over its first three decades.

The telescope will examine light from thousands of exploding stars called supernovae to track how the universe has expanded over billions of years.

Scientists hope it will resolve disagreements about the Hubble constant, which measures the rate of cosmic expansion.

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"Current observations hint that our standard model of the universe is incorrect. Roman will be able to confirm these and set us on the path to understanding what's right," Dr Julie McEnery, the senior project scientist, said.

"These are the keys to unlocking the fundamental nature of dark matter, dark energy and the fabric of the universe itself," she added.

The observatory will also map dark matter, the invisible substance that binds galaxies together.

The telescope's unveiling comes as the Trump administration threatens to cut Nasa's overall budget by 23 per cent.

Such a cut would mean a 47 per cent reduction in science spending, amounting to $3.4billion.

Mr Isaacman testified before the House committee on science, space and technology on Wednesday to show off the scientific breakthrough.

He described Roman as an example of "gold-standard science" that Nasa would strive to continue, "knowing that the world is waiting for the headlines only Nasa is capable of making".

He said priorities and resources were being directed towards human exploration, including landing astronauts on the moon in 2028 and building capacity for Mars missions.