The largest infrared digital camera ever built and its scientific companion, a massive mirror originally designed for a spy satellite, are now safely in orbit, after the flawless launch of NASA's newest flagship telescope. The US$4.3-billion Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope lifted off atop a SpaceX rocket at 7:35 a.m. local time today from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and it will soon be on its way to its final location. The observatory is expected to yield a wealth of discoveries, from insight into the nature of 'dark energy', the force causing the Universe's expansion, to millions of stars in the Milky Way and the planets that orbit them. It is named after Nancy Grace Roman (1925'2018), NASA's first chief astronomer and a leading figure in many of the agency's most impactful scientific programmes, including the Hubble Space Telescope. The Roman telescope is the final member of a trio of complementary sky-mapping observatories. It is joining the US-led Vera C. Rubin...
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