The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has launched its first telescope named after its first chief astronomer, Nancy Grace Roman, on Sunday at NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.

The Nancy Grace Roman telescope was launched at 7:26 a.m. aboard a SpaceX Falcon rocket from Launch Complex 39A at the space centre.

The telescope will help astronomers uncover the universe’s darkest secrets while investigating cosmic activity, such as black holes, dark energy, exoplanets and exploding stars. It is expected to arrive at its destination about one million miles from Earth.

Nicky Fox, NASA’s science mission director, said, “Roman will be a discovery machine that will bring us closer than ever before to answering humanity’s most profound questions about our cosmic history.

“With its large field of view and fast survey speeds, Roman will usher us into a new era of discovery and make the invisible visible, setting the foundation for humanity’s search for life beyond our solar system.”

Julie McEnery, Roman’s senior project scientist, said the telescope will let scientists study the universe in ways previous space telescopes could not.

“We’ve never been able to view the universe with eyes like Roman’s before, Ms McEnery said. “There’s no telling what more we’ll know and have seen by this time next year.”

NASA also revealed it will send back 1.4 terabytes of data daily, the highest rate of any NASA astrophysics mission.