NASA launches powerful Roman Space Telescope, a spy satellite turned to the stars

NASA launched the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, originally a repurposed spy satellite, on Sunday (August 30) to explore the cosmos and tackle some of the biggest mysteries in astrophysics and cosmology. The US$4 billion project was carried aloft by a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

The telescope will orbit beyond the moon, seeking to map dark matter, dark energy, and over two billion galaxies, while also searching for exoplanets and testing gravity on a vast scale.

The launch marked the end of a five-year journey for engineers and the beginning of a new era for scientists. Julie McEnery, the senior project scientist for the Roman telescope, likened the launch to stepping off a precipice into the unknown. The observatory was originally designed for a spy satellite program, but when the program was over budget and terminated in 2012, the National Reconnaissance Office donated it to NASA, which then repurposed it for cosmic exploration.

NASA's Administrator Jared Isaacman expressed confidence that the Roman telescope would become a household name alongside other great instruments of discovery like the James Webb Space Telescope and the Hubble Space Telescope. McEnery noted that the Roman telescope has similar sensitivity and sharpness of vision as Hubble but will survey the cosmos more quickly. Roman can survey the entire Milky Way galaxy in a month, while Hubble would need a century.

During the news conference, President Donald Trump congratulated NASA on the successful launch and provided funding for the project. The Roman telescope is expected to be launched nine months ahead of schedule. Its main survey will take over a year to complete and cover more than two billion galaxies, bringing scientists closer to understanding the mysterious components of the universe - dark energy and dark matter.