Roman lifts off on a mission to survey the infrared sky

NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope lifted off on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy from Kennedy Space Center at 07:26 EDT (12:26 BST / 13:26 CEST) on 30 August 2026. The successful launch marks the start of Roman's mission to survey the sky in visible to near-infrared light, aiming to shed light on the nature of dark energy and dark matter, and to investigate the diversity of exoplanets in our galaxy.

The mission is NASA-led, with ESA contributing star trackers, batteries, and detectors for the coronagraph instrument. ESA will also provide communications support via its deep-space ground station network, including data download using a new 35-metre antenna in New Norcia, Australia. Carole Mundell, ESA's Director of Science, congratulated NASA and emphasized ESA's pride in providing essential hardware and supporting Roman's ambitious goals.

Like ESA's Euclid telescope, Roman will study the Universe in unprecedented detail. It carries a 2.4 m primary mirror and two instruments: the Wide Field Instrument (WFI) and a Coronagraph Instrument technology demonstration. With its panoramic view, crisp infrared vision, and quick re-orientation, Roman will map galaxy clustering over time and space, and study light from thousands of distant type Ia supernovas to trace the expansion of the Universe.

Bethan James, ESA's Roman Project Scientist, noted that Roman should provide the clearest picture yet of whether dark energy is constant or evolves over cosmic time, with either outcome having profound implications. She also highlighted Roman's exoplanet census, which is expected to discover thousands of new worlds, including cold and free-floating planets previously beyond reach, and the potential for unexpected discoveries given the combination of depth, area, and image quality.

After launch, Roman is heading to the second Sun-Earth Lagrange point (L2), nearly 1.5 million km from Earth, where it will have an unobstructed view of almost 12% of the sky. Like Euclid and the James Webb Space Telescope, it will move in a wider orbit around L2, much larger than the Moon's orbit around Earth. Over the next three months, the team will conduct deployments, calibrations, and tests; after commissioning, science operations will begin with the release of the first science image.