9 Things to Know About NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is scheduled to lift off at 7:26 a.m. EDT on Sunday, August 30. The launch will take place from the Cape Canaveral Space Launch Complex 40, marking the first major deployment of the agency’s next‑generation wide‑field infrared observatory. The Roman mission, named after the pioneering astronomer Nancy Grace Roman, is designed to survey the cosmos with unprecedented depth and breadth, aiming to map dark energy, exoplanet populations, and the large‑scale structure of the universe.

The telescope will carry a 2.4‑meter primary mirror and a 0.28‑square‑degree field of view, roughly 100 times larger than the Hubble Space Telescope’s camera. Its instruments will conduct deep‑field imaging and grism spectroscopy, enabling astronomers to probe the expansion history of the universe and to discover thousands of exoplanets via microlensing. The mission’s data will be made publicly available, fostering a broad scientific community effort to unlock new insights into cosmology and planetary science.

For additional information about the Roman mission, visit https://www.nasa.gov/roman. Media inquiries may be directed to Claire Andreoli at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. (claire.andreoli@nasa.gov, 301‑286‑1940).