NASA launches its next-generation space telescope

Key Points:

• NASA launched the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope on Sunday from Kennedy Space Center atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, beginning a mission to survey hundreds of millions of stars and billions of galaxies.
• The telescope will orbit the Sun-Earth Lagrange point 2 (L2), about 1 million miles from Earth, and is designed to conduct panoramic cosmic surveys over five years, including studying dark matter, dark energy, and discovering over 100,000 exoplanets.
• Roman’s capabilities surpass those of the Hubble Space Telescope, surveying the sky 1,000 times faster and capturing images 100 times larger, with three primary surveys planned focusing on the Milky Way’s galactic bulge, dark matter, and dark energy.
• The $4.3 billion mission, developed over nearly two decades and launched nine months ahead of schedule despite pandemic and government shutdown challenges, aims to provide new insights into fundamental astrophysical mysteries.
• Named after NASA’s first chief of astronomy, Nancy Grace Roman, the telescope honors her legacy as a pioneer in space-based astronomy and the "mother of the Hubble Space Telescope."