The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has just launched, well, not a new mission. It is not a new spacecraft either. What NASA has launched is actually a browser game that you can definitely play for free.
Yes, you read that right. And it is a browser game that will remind you of an arcade classic known as Space Invaders.
If you think it is pretty random for a space agency to just launch a browser game, there is actually a reason behind it. The game is meant to showcase a space observatory that is scheduled for launch in the next couple of years.
NASA's Roman Space Observer Game
NASA's new browser game, which has been named the Roman Space Observer Game, is an 8-bit style game that is "intended to entertain players across a wide variety of interests and skillsets, all while spreading the word of the Nancy Grace Roman Telescope and the fantastic science it will uncover," according to the space agency.
The gameplay will remind you a lot of Space Invaders. For those unfamiliar with this arcade classic, it is a game released in 1097 and designed by Tomohiro Nishikado, who was inspired by "Star Wars" and ended up applying an outer space theme to his game.
What differs NASA's new browser game from the arcade classic is that, instead of shooting down aliens, what you are meant to do in this browser game is to aim the lens of the Nancy Grace Roman Telescope at alien objects in order to capture them. The more you catch, the higher the score.
Among the space objects your lens in the game are meant to catch are black holes, exoplanets, galaxies, and even the James Webb Space Telescope.
Interested to try out the game? Click here to play.
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Nancy Grace Roman Telescope
As previously mentioned, the Romance Space Observer Game has been launched to showcase the science of the Nancy Grace Roman Telescope. But what exactly is it?
According to a report by Space, the Nancy Grace Roman Telescope is actually previously known as the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope or WFIRST. The name change was done in honor of Nancy Grace Roman, an astronomer who is also referred to as the "mother of Hubble."
Expected to launch sometime in the mid-2020s, the telescope aims "to observe exoplanets, dark energy, galaxy distribution and other cosmic phenomena to add on to research about the universe's evolution and formation," according to another report by Space.
It will make use of wide-field Hubble-class lens and occupy a deep-space orbit similar to that of the James Webb Space Telescope.
