NASA launched the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope from Florida on Sunday, sending its newest flagship observatory on a three-month journey to a position about 1.6 million kilometers from Earth. The roughly $4 billion telescope, carried by a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, will study dark energy, dark matter and planets beyond the solar system. Roman’s infrared field of view is at least 100 times wider than Hubble’s, allowing it to survey vast areas of the sky far more quickly. Its main survey will cover more than two billion galaxies and help scientists build the most comprehensive 3D map of the universe to date. The mission will also use microlensing to find exoplanets, a field in which Polish astronomers have made notable recent discoveries. During NASA’s post-launch news conference, President Donald Trump called NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman and congratulated the team. NASA expects to release Roman’s first images by early 2027.
