NASA and SpaceX launched the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope on Sunday, Aug. 30, beginning a five-year mission designed to study dark matter, dark energy, exoplanets and the evolution of the universe.

The telescope lifted off at 7:26 a.m. EDT aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA later confirmed that Roman separated from the rocket’s second stage at 7:58 a.m. EDT and began flying independently.

Roman Heads Toward A Million-Mile Orbit

Roman is traveling toward the second Sun-Earth Lagrange point, or L2, about 1 million miles from Earth. NASA expects the spacecraft to spend about three months reaching its destination while completing deployments, calibrations and system tests.

SpaceX provided the Falcon Heavy launch vehicle. NASA’s Launch Services Program managed the launch service. The scientific mission remains a NASA-led observatory program.

A Wider View Of The Universe

Roman is designed to survey billions of galaxies and examine large areas of the sky at infrared wavelengths. NASA says its field of view is at least 100 times larger than Hubble’s, while its survey capability can be up to 1,000 times faster.

NASA expects Roman’s surveys to uncover roughly 100,000 new exoplanets. The telescope will also conduct a statistical census of planetary systems and study the distribution of galaxies and galaxy clusters.

Dark Matter And Dark Energy In Focus

A central goal is to improve measurements of dark matter and dark energy. Dark matter is inferred from its gravitational effects, while dark energy is linked to the accelerating expansion of the universe.

Roman will complement observations from Hubble, the James Webb Space Telescope and other major observatories. Its wide-field surveys are designed to provide large datasets for research across many areas of astrophysics.

NASA estimates the mission’s total lifecycle cost at about $4.3 billion. The observatory is named after Nancy Grace Roman, NASA’s first chief astronomer and a key figure in the development of space-based astronomy.