NASA launches its own retro space game

The game gives players one minute to “capture” as many space objects as possible. Old school music plays as galaxies, rogue exoplanets, and even black holes fly by. Players get points for capturing objects and can learn more about what they have captured when the time is right.

Limited and fun, the game has been developed to teach players the cosmic bodies and the telescope expected to be released in the middle of the decade.

Named after a leading NASA executive Nancy RomanThe new observatory will be known as “Mother Hubble” to assist the agency in the birth of the legendary Hubble Space Telescope, and will greatly increase researchers’ ability to see and study the universe. Roman was a brilliant astronomer, and the observatory that bears her name will investigate mysteries such as why the universe is expanding and which planets are outside our solar system.

The agency says the Roman space telescope will be “Hubble’s big cousin,” capturing 100 times the area of ​​the 1990 telescope using massive 300-megapixel instruments.

The new observatory will provide wide-angle images of space, a map and measuring the universe Using a variety of advanced technologies.

Compared to the mission it is promoting, the 8-bit game is actually quite simple. But sometimes all you need is a little fun to get people interested in science — and excitement about an upcoming assignment.