I distinctly remember the feeling I had when I first saw the Hubble Deep Field image. A sensation of scope, of scale, of incomprehensible hugeness and complexity that I’ve never really found anywhere besides astronomy and science fiction. There’s just… so much out there that it’s literally incomprehensible. I love it.

I can’t wait to see the data from Roman. I hope it’s as much of a game-changer as it seems to be. The last time I anticipated a launch this much was Webb, which feels weird to say with the Artemis missions going on, but I just can’t muster the same enthusiasm for moon missions that I feel for deep space. They also feel more like American business-as-usual imperialism, and if America is going to try for a moon base I really hope we can get our own house in order before we start creating new corporatist hellscapes for humans to suffer in. I don’t know if anyone can be trusted to found a colony on the moon, or Mars, but I sure as hell don’t trust us.

I feel much less conflicted about the telescope missions. I like that we just build instruments to take pictures of the universe and share them with everybody. And Roman, by all accounts, will be creating an unprecedented bonanza of space data. I’m jazzed for it.

EDIT: Roman is currently scheduled to launch at Aug 30, 2026 11:26 UTC, or six hours after this post was created. NASA Source

EDIT 2: launch went smoothly; Roman is en route to L2 🥳

  • Korval@lemmy.today
    English
    2·
    23 days ago

    Didn’t realize it was called Roman. It made seeing this disorienting: surely they know that Romans didn’t have satellite technology. Do they think that Romans are still around? Is Italy launching the telescope? Do people refer to Italians as Romans. And so on.

    • queerlilhayseed@piefed.blahaj.zoneOPEnglish
      1·
      23 days ago

      oh hahaha. I get that. It’s named after Nancy Grace Roman, an influential astronomer and NASA admin who helped get Hubble off the ground.

      I do like the idea of ancient Romans trying to put an observatory into orbit though. I wonder if it would be possible with the tech of the era, assuming the full power of the empire at its height were put to the task. Probably not, orbit takes a lot of energy, but it’s a fun idea.

  • shiroininja@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    23 days ago

    I just watched it this morning. I’m a huge space nerd and wrote my own Linux app to track the industry. I haven’t been keeping up with it because of the politics of Elon musk kinda has left a bad taste in my mouth, but I was genuinely excited watching this launch. It’s the first launch by spaceX I’ve watched in forever.

    I still love the booster landings. And the telescope is cool. I can’t wait to have access to images from it.