Nasa launches Roman telescope on cosmic mapping mission

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has successfully launched its new flagship space telescope, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, on a mission to map the cosmos and tackle some of the biggest mysteries in physics. Named after pioneering US astronomer Nancy Grace Roman, the telescope is set to create an unprecedented map of the universe and shed light on the enigmatic phenomena of dark matter and dark energy, which together account for approximately 95% of the universe.

The Roman Space Telescope, standing at over 12 meters (39 feet) tall, was transported from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket at 7:26am (1126 GMT). Over a decade in development and costing more than US$4 billion, the telescope is designed to survey vast swaths of the sky from a vantage point 1.5 million kilometers (930,000 miles) from Earth, reaching its destination in about 100 days.

With a field of view 100 times larger than Hubble's and even wider than James Webb's, Roman will be able to generate about 1.3 terabytes of data daily, providing scientists with a treasure trove of information. The telescope's infrared vision will allow it to detect light emitted by celestial objects billions of years ago, effectively offering a glimpse into the universe's distant past and helping scientists better understand the nature of dark matter and dark energy.

NASA administrator Jared Isaacman unveiled the project to the press in April, stating that Roman will give Earth a new atlas of the universe. While light from other observatories such as Webb, which offers greater power and precision, will complement Roman's observations, the sheer volume of data generated by the telescope will be daunting, making it challenging to download to a laptop.

Nonetheless, scientists and the general public will have access to all of Roman's data, eagerly anticipating any surprises that may set the stage for future missions to address.