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NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope — a $4.3-billion sister to the Hubble and James Webb telescopes — launched into space Sunday morning on a SpaceX rocket with space enthusiasts and scientists from around the world looking on.
Once fully operational, the observatory is expected to vastly expand scientists’ inventory of planets outside our solar system, increasing it from about 6,300 planets to more than 100,000. Scientists aim to find some of those with a cutting-edge instrument built by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge.
“It’s a little bit like having a kid go off to college,” said Vanessa Bailey, JPL instrument scientist for the planet-hunter, called a coronagraph. “You’re used to having it around, being able to go visit it when you want, and now, it’s out in the world.”
Roman will also complete detailed surveys of the sky to help physicists better understand “dark matter,” which pulls the universe together, and “dark energy,” which pushes it apart.
Caltech will play a leading role in managing Roman’s scientific operations.
A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket carrying Roman lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 4:26 a.m. Pacific. As the rocket rumbled along the Space Coast, nerves turned into catharsis for JPL scientists and engineers looking on.
“I had my hands over the rails, white knuckles, as we were counting down — and then just, tears streaming down my face as she went up,” said Alina Kiessling, a JPL research scientist who studies dark matter and dark energy.
She watched alongside her husband, JPL Roman project scientist Jason Rhodes, from the space center. Shortly after launch, their nanny at a nearby Airbnb shared a video of their two children, ages 5 and 1, watching, too.
The rocket successfully deployed the 18,000-pound telescope about 31 minutes after launch. Roman then opened its array of solar panels and sunshades, which power the craft and keep its sensitive instruments cool.
In the middle of a post-launch news conference, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman’s phone began to ring. “The president is excited about Roman,” he said.
“I just want to thank everybody and congratulate you. It looked beautiful on television,” President Trump (who proposed killing the project multiple times) said on speakerphone. “You are doing a fantastic job.”
Roman was initially projected to come in over budget, but a significant course correction helped the telescope launch on budget and ahead of schedule.
While JPLers are already planning their celebrations, Roman coronagraph project manager Feng Zhao said the team won’t truly be able to relax “anytime soon.”
