NASA has launched the new Nancy Grace Roman telescope into space, which will study some of the greatest mysteries of the universe.

The telescope, a project worth about $4 billion, launched Sunday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket.

Roman’s main mission is to study dark energy and dark matter, two mysterious components that make up most of the universe. The telescope will also study how gravity works on large scales and search for exoplanets, i.e. planets outside our solar system.

Roman will travel about 1.6 million kilometers from Earth, towards an area of space known as the Lagrange Point 2.

The mission is planned to last at least five years, but the telescope may have enough fuel to run for another five years.

Roman will complement the work of other space telescopes, such as James Webb and Hubble.

One of the main objectives is to create the most detailed 3D map of the universe to date. The observations will cover more than two billion galaxies.

Source: prizrenpost