NASA's Roman telescope launched Aug 30, 2026 to L2: Hubble-sharp images 100x wider, a census of planetary systems, first images by early 2027.
Image: NASA/Sydney Rohde. Roman lifts off on a Falcon Heavy, Aug 30, 2026.
Roman is NASA's newest space telescope, launched August 30, 2026. It has a mirror the same size as Hubble's and images just as sharp, but each picture covers a patch of sky at least 100 times larger. NASA says one Roman image holds the detail of 100 Hubble pictures, and Roman can survey the sky about a thousand times faster than Hubble. That speed is what lets it take a census of planets across our galaxy and help show how rare a world like Earth may be.
Source: NASA, Roman mission page; NASA, Roman launch release (Aug 30, 2026)
The telescope is named for the astronomer who made space telescopes possible in the first place.
Born May 16, 1925 in Nashville, Tennessee. By 6th grade she had started an astronomy club with her friends.
She joined NASA in 1959, six months after it formed, and became its first Chief of Astronomy and its first woman executive.
She planned NASA's space astronomy program and fought to get Hubble approved by Congress. Her colleague Ed Weiler named her the "mother of Hubble."
"If I hadn't been stubborn, I would've been talked out of it years earlier." She died December 25, 2018.
Source: NASA, Who is Nancy Grace Roman?; NASA, Nancy Grace Roman
Her namesake telescope is built for huge, fast surveys of the sky.
NASA built Roman to explore dark energy and dark matter, map a billion galaxies, and take a statistical census of planetary systems in our galaxy. A few numbers show the scale:
300 MP
Infrared camera with 18 detectors, each about the size of a saltine cracker
1.4 TB
Data sent home every day, the most of any NASA astrophysics mission so far
1,000+
Exoplanets NASA expects from its survey of the inner Milky Way
Source: NASA, Roman launch release (Aug 30, 2026); NASA, About Roman
How does Roman stack up against NASA's two most famous telescopes?
| Roman | Webb | Hubble | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Main mirror | 2.4 m (7.9 ft) | 6.5 m (21.3 ft) | 2.4 m (7.9 ft) |
| Field of view | At least 100 times Hubble's (0.28 square degrees) | Narrow, deep views | Narrow, deep views |
| Light it sees | Visible to near-infrared (0.5 to 2.3 microns) | Infrared (0.6 to 28.5 microns) | Ultraviolet, visible, near-infrared (0.2 to 1.7 microns) |
| Where it orbits | Sun-Earth L2, about 1.5 million km away | Sun-Earth L2, about 1.5 million km away | Low Earth orbit, about 560 km up |
| Launched | 2026 | 2021 | 1990 |
| Best at | Huge, fast surveys: dark energy, a billion galaxies, a census of planets | The faintest, earliest galaxies and dusty star nurseries | Sharp ultraviolet and visible views, 35+ years of science |
Source: NASA, Roman and Hubble; NASA, Roman FAQ; NASA, Webb fact sheet; NASA, Hubble vs. Webb; NASA, Roman mission page
Roman is still traveling to its permanent home. Here is how far it has gone, and where it is headed.
1,484,298 km
about 922,300 miles from Earth, as of October 12, 2026 (00:00 UTC)
Roman is on its way to orbit around Sun-Earth L2. For comparison, Webb is about 1,403,399 km from Earth today.
Distance from the center of Earth, from NASA/JPL's Horizons ephemeris for Roman (ID -211). This page refreshes it once a day; NASA's own numbers update continuously.
Source: NASA/JPL Horizons; NASA, Roman launch release (Aug 30, 2026)
Explore space in 3D with NASA's Eyes on the Solar System · NASA's Roman blog
Roman's destination, L2, is one of five special parking spots in space.
A Lagrange point is a spot in space where the pull of two big bodies, like the Sun and Earth, balances out so a spacecraft can stay put with very little fuel. There are five: L1, L2 and L3 sit on the Sun-Earth line, and L4 and L5 lead and trail Earth in its orbit.
Source: NASA, What is a Lagrange Point?; NASA, Webb's orbit; NASA, Roman launch release (Aug 30, 2026)
Until Roman sends its first science images, this space shows NASA's newest Roman photo and counts down to first light.
First images: early 2027
Source: NASA, Roman launch release (Aug 30, 2026); NASA Image and Video Library
Why does a faraway telescope matter here on Earth?
Machine learning, AI and citizen scientists will help sift Roman's 1.4 terabytes a day, so anyone can take part in discovery.
Roman will complete a statistical census of planetary systems in our galaxy. Knowing how common, or how rare, worlds like ours are shows how precious Earth's oceans, forests and air really are.
Roman's Coronagraph tests the technology that future missions like NASA's Habitable Worlds Observatory concept could use to photograph Earth-like planets and search for life.
Roman's mirror weighs 80% less than Hubble's, and NASA delivered the telescope ahead of schedule and on budget, a sign of how far telescope technology has come.
Source: NASA, Roman mission page; NASA, Roman launch release (Aug 30, 2026); NASA, Roman FAQ
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NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope launched on August 30, 2026 aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy and is heading to Sun-Earth L2. It pairs Hubble-sharp infrared images with a field of view at least 100 times larger to explore dark matter, dark energy and exoplanets, and NASA expects its first images by early 2027.
Source: NASA, Roman launch release (Aug 30, 2026); NASA, Roman mission page
NASA's Roman Space Telescope sends home 1.4 terabytes of data a day, the most of any NASA astrophysics mission so far.
A census of planets around other stars tells us how rare a living world like Earth is, and why it is worth protecting.
Want to go deeper? NASA, Roman mission page has the full story and the latest updates.
For Further InformationNASA doesn't take donations, but anyone can join one of its citizen science projects.