NASA is set to launch its own next-generation telescope into space on Sunday, to explore some of the universe’s biggest mysteries.
The agency, in collaboration with SpaceX, plans to launch the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope no earlier than 7:26 a.m. EDT aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The mission aims to uncover more information about some of the universe’s greatest mysteries, including dark energy.
The telescope is named after Nancy Grace Roman, NASA’s first chief astronomer.
Roman was known as the “mother of Hubble” for her decades of work at NASA helping pave the way for the Hubble Space Telescope.
She played a fundamental role in NASA’s early era of space exploration after joining the agency in 1959 and becoming its chief astronomer in 1960.
Roman worked at NASA for decades before retiring in 1997.
NASA said the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope was built to pair sharp infrared vision with a field of view at least 100 times larger than that of the Hubble Space Telescope.
Its new surveys will help scientists study dark matter and dark energy, map billions of galaxies, examine black holes and explore objects ranging from our own solar system to the edge of the observable universe.
Once in space, the telescope will travel about one million miles from Earth.
The mission has a five-year lifetime, with a goal of operating for 10 years.
Roman’s science data will also be made publicly available after it is processed.
Roman will work alongside the James Webb Space Telescope, which is already operating in space, to give scientists an even broader view of the universe.
