The United States launched a next-generation space telescope on the 30th (local time) to uncover new secrets of the universe.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) launched the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope atop SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket at 7:26 a.m. that day (8:26 p.m. on the 30th Korea time) from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The telescope entered orbit about 10 minutes after liftoff.
The Roman Space Telescope, the United States' third space telescope, is headed for Lagrange Point 2 (L2), the same location as the James Webb Space Telescope. L2 is about 1 million miles (1.6 million kilometers) from Earth, roughly four times the distance between Earth and the moon. It is expected to take more than three months for the telescope to reach L2.
After arriving at L2, the Roman Space Telescope will rapidly survey a much wider area than the James Webb Space Telescope and probe the universe's hidden features.
Nancy Fox, NASA Science Mission Directorate Director General, said, "This telescope will discover thousands of supernovae, tens of thousands of planets, billions of galaxies, and tens of billions of stars," adding, "With its vast field of view, it will let us do things we could never do before."
CNN said that observations from the Roman Space Telescope over the next five years could yield clues to long-standing cosmic mysteries such as dark energy, which is believed to drive the universe's accelerated expansion, and dark matter, which shapes cosmic structure but cannot be seen directly. It also projected that galaxies and exoplanets not previously observed, as well as free-floating planets not bound by the gravity of stars, could be newly discovered.
The Roman Space Telescope can observe more than 1,000 times faster than the Hubble Space Telescope, launched in 1990, and has a field of view more than 100 times wider.
This bus-sized telescope is named after the late Nancy Grace Roman, NASA's first chief astronomer. Known as the "mother of the Hubble Space Telescope," Roman pioneered the concept of space-based astronomy—observing celestial objects from space to avoid interference from Earth's atmosphere.
Development of the Roman Space Telescope took about 10 years, and the development expense is estimated at about $4.3 billion (about 5.9362 trillion won).
U.S. President Donald Trump wrote on the social media platform Truth Social, "Congratulations to NASA Director General Jared Isaacman and NASA's great patriots on the successful launch. This is America's golden age."