NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is scheduled to launch in September 2026, nearly eight months ahead of its required readiness date of May 2027. The observatory has passed a critical milestone and been approved for the next stage of construction, with work on main spacecraft systems finishing and integration set to begin at the Goddard Space Flight Center, according to the agency.
Named after NASA's first chief astronomer, who was known as the "mother of the Hubble Space Telescope," Roman is a next-generation observatory designed to peer through dust and across vast stretches of space and time to survey the infrared universe. It will have a field of view at least 100 times larger than Hubble's and could measure light from a billion galaxies over its lifetime. The telescope will also block starlight to directly image exoplanets and planet-forming disks, complete a statistical census of planetary systems, and investigate dark energy and infrared astrophysics.
Roman's primary mirror measures 7.9 feet across, the same diameter as Hubble's but less than one-fourth the weight at 410 pounds due to technological advances. The telescope will operate from the second Sun-Earth Lagrange point, approximately 930,000 miles from Earth, where gravitational forces allow steady orbits with minimal assistance.
The observatory carries two science instruments. The Wide Field Instrument is a 300-megapixel infrared camera designed to observe the early universe and track its expansion history. The Coronagraph will demonstrate technology to block starlight and directly image planets nearly a billion times fainter than their host stars.
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An illustration of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. Image: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualisation Studio
Roman will address fundamental questions in astrophysics, says NASA. Its wide field of view will allow it to measure light from a billion galaxies over its lifetime, helping scientists study dark energy and trace how the universe has expanded throughout its history.
The telescope will also test the standard model of cosmology, which describes the properties of the universe but has shown hints of cracks in recent years. Roman will be able to determine whether the model is wrong and set researchers on a path toward a deeper understanding.
Additionally, the observatory will complete a statistical census of planetary systems in the galaxy and directly image exoplanets by blocking the glare of their host stars.
As per an official press release by NASA, the telescope has completed rigorous environmental testing, including acoustic blast simulations, vibration tests, and thermal vacuum chamber trials that cooled it to the extreme temperatures of space.
