NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope launched on Sunday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. The spacecraft, named after NASA’s first chief astronomer, is designed to investigate dark energy and dark matter. It will also search for planets outside our solar system, helping scientists better understand the universe.
The telescope weighs about 18,000 pounds and is now beginning a journey of a million miles to reach its destination, according to NPR. The launch was described as a ‘glorious dawn’ by NASA’s Jackie Townsend, who is the Roman telescope project manager. Shortly after liftoff, ground controllers confirmed that the telescope had deployed its solar panels and other instruments.
NASA administrator Jared Isaacman said that all systems were operating normally at that time. The Roman Space Telescope is based on a spacecraft originally designed as a spy telescope for the National Reconnaissance Office and then donated to NASA. It was later donated to NASA and renamed in honor of Nancy Grace Roman, known as the ‘Mother of Hubble’ for her work on the Hubble Space Telescope.
The telescope will be positioned at the second Sun-Earth Lagrange point, or L2, where it will orbit the sun and Earth. This location allows the telescope to maintain a stable orbit while using minimal fuel, similar to where the James Webb Space Telescope is located. The journey to L2 will take more than three months, during which time engineers will test and calibrate the telescope. Its main mission includes studying how gravity affects light from distant galaxies. Scientists will also use the telescope to study dark energy, which is believed to drive the expansion of the universe.
The telescope will search for Type Ia supernovas, which are used as standard candles to measure cosmic distances. Roman will also look for exoplanets using methods like detecting dips in starlight caused by planets passing in front of their stars. It will also use microlensing to find about 1,000 more exoplanets.
NASA’s associate administrator Nicky Fox said the mission is important for answering whether we are alone in the universe. The telescope will demonstrate technology that can take pictures of distant planets by blocking out their host star’s light. Roman will collect a massive amount of data, about 1.4 terabytes per day, which will be available to scientists and the public.
NASA will make the data available through a cloud-based system called Roman Nexus, allowing anyone to explore the raw information. The telescope will be able to capture images of patches of sky that are as large as a full moon, which is much wider than Hubble’s views, according to a report from Engadget. The telescope will observe exoplanets and planet-forming discs, helping scientists understand how the universe evolved.
The Roman Space Telescope Project Office is based at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The project also involves the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore. The first images from Roman are expected to appear in early 2027, after the telescope completes its initial checks and calibrations.
IMAGE: Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Public Domain