--- title: NASA’s new dark energy space telescope can also detect... description: The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, launching at the end of August, was designed to study dark energy and dark matter but has an unexpected secondary... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/nasa-s-new-dark-energy-space-telescope-can-also-detect-killer-asteroids-b6h4cabvm twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: NASA’s new dark energy space telescope can also detect killer asteroids | daily.dev og:description: The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, launching at the end of August, was designed to study dark energy and dark matter but has an unexpected secondary... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/nasa-s-new-dark-energy-space-telescope-can-also-detect-killer-asteroids-b6h4cabvm og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/b6h4cAbvM.png og:image:alt: NASA’s new dark energy space telescope can also detect killer asteroids og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # NASA’s new dark energy space telescope can also detect killer asteroids **[MIT Technology Review](https://daily.dev/sources/technologyreview)** · 8 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, launching at the end of August, was designed to study dark energy and dark matter but has an unexpected secondary capability: detecting potentially dangerous asteroids. Equipped with a 300-megapixel infrared camera and a field of view 100 times larger than Hubble, Roman can spot asteroids as small as 60 feet long — comparable to the 2013 Chelyabinsk impactor. Though its software currently discards asteroid streaks, modifications could allow scientists to recover that data. Roman's real strength is as a complement to dedicated planetary defense assets like the upcoming NEO Surveyor (launching 2027) and the Vera Rubin Observatory. Its wide field of view allows rapid orbit refinement for multiple potentially hazardous asteroids simultaneously, while its infrared capability helps estimate asteroid size and composition — critical for assessing impact damage or planning deflection missions. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. 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