NASA sends flagship Roman telescope into orbit to probe dark matter and dark energy

NASA launched its newest flagship astronomical observatory into space from Florida on Sunday, kicking off a mission aimed at tackling some of the biggest unresolved questions in astrophysics and cosmology.

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, a project valued at roughly 4 billion dollars, lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. Despite some weather concerns in the lead up to launch, the rocket carried the telescope into space through a mix of blue skies and scattered clouds.

The telescope is designed to investigate longstanding cosmic mysteries including dark energy and dark matter, test how gravity behaves across vast cosmic scales, and search for exoplanets, the term used for planets that exist outside our solar system.

Roman will travel to an orbital position known as Lagrange Point 2, located roughly a million miles from Earth. NASA has planned the mission to last five years, though officials said the telescope may carry enough fuel to operate for an additional five years beyond that.

The new observatory builds on the capabilities of two other major space telescopes, the James Webb Space Telescope, launched in 2021, and the Hubble Space Telescope, which has operated since 1990. Nicola Fox, head of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, told reporters Saturday that while Hubble and Webb have essentially peered through a keyhole at the universe, Roman will kick the door down entirely.

Julie McEnery, Roman’s senior project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, said the telescope shares roughly the same sensitivity and image sharpness as Hubble but can survey the sky far more quickly. She told reporters at a July briefing that a single month of Roman observations could survey the entire Milky Way galaxy, a task that would take Hubble roughly a century to complete.

NASA has compared the difference between the two telescopes to camera lenses, describing Roman as functioning like a wide angle lens and Webb as a zoom lens. Webb has already reshaped scientific understanding of the early universe, revealing that primordial galaxies formed earlier and grew larger than previously believed, largely because Webb can observe extremely distant objects and, by extension, look far back in cosmic time. McEnery said Webb excels at probing deeply into the universe with remarkable sensitivity to locate rare early cosmic objects, while Roman offers the broader panoramic view that complements Webb’s narrower, deeper observations.

Roman’s central contribution will come through building the most detailed three dimensional map of the universe ever created, a tool scientists hope will advance understanding of both dark energy and dark matter. The telescope’s primary survey, expected to take more than a year to complete, will cover more than two billion galaxies.

Scientists trace the universe’s origin to the Big Bang roughly 13.8 billion years ago, after which the universe began expanding continuously. Researchers discovered in 1998 that this expansion is actually accelerating, a phenomenon attributed to a still unexplained force known as dark energy. Ordinary matter, including stars, planets, gas, dust and all familiar physical material, makes up only about 5 percent of the universe’s total contents. Dark matter, detected through its gravitational effects on galaxies and stars, is estimated to account for roughly 27 percent, while dark energy is believed to make up around 68 percent.

By measuring dark matter’s gravitational pull and dark energy’s expansive push throughout the universe, NASA says Roman will bring scientists closer than ever to solving both mysteries. The telescope will also conduct one of the most extensive exoplanet searches ever attempted, with expectations that it will discover thousands of new planets and produce the first statistical census of planetary systems resembling our own solar system.

Cosmologist Mustapha Ishak of the University of Texas at Dallas, a member of Roman’s scientific collaboration, said one of the most exciting aspects of the mission lies in its potential for unexpected discovery, noting that major observatories throughout history have often produced their most significant breakthroughs in areas scientists never anticipated before launch.

President Donald Trump’s administration attempted during both terms in office to reduce or eliminate funding for the Roman telescope program, but Congress preserved the project each time. NASA said the telescope’s launch arrived nine months ahead of its original schedule, marking a rare instance of a major space mission beating its planned timeline.