Top Cosmic Mysteries Roman Telescope Aims to Solve

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is primarily designed to tackle some of the most profound unanswered questions in cosmology, including the nature of dark energy and dark matter, and the distribution of exoplanets.

The top 3

1. Unraveling Dark Energy's Accelerating Expansion: Dark energy is the mysterious force causing the universe's expansion to accelerate, making up about 68-70% of the total mass-energy of the observable universe, and Roman will conduct wide-field surveys to measure its effects.
2. Mapping Dark Matter's Invisible Influence: Dark matter, which comprises about 27% of the universe, is an invisible substance that interacts via gravity, holding galaxies together, and Roman will help map its distribution and properties.
3. Discovering Thousands of Exoplanets via Microlensing: Roman will use gravitational microlensing, a technique sensitive to planets as small as Mars and capable of finding worlds in the habitable zone and free-floating planets, to discover thousands of new exoplanets.

Sources

• NASA’s Dark Universe-Seeking Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Launches - Smithsonian Magazine
• NASA has launched the new Roman space telescope to study dark matter and exoplanets
• NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Lifts Off to Open New Insights Into the Universe
• NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is now on its way to study the 'dark universe' - Engadget
• What Is the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope? (Grades 5-8) - NASA
• Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope - IPAC/Caltech

Open the full topic