A new eye on the cosmos opened on 30 August 2026, when NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope rode a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket into orbit from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA. The launch at 07:26 EDT marked the start of a mission that will scan the sky in visible and near-infrared light, targeting two of astronomy's biggest mysteries: dark energy and dark matter. But Roman is not just about the dark universe; it will also conduct a sweeping census of exoplanets, including cold and free-floating worlds that have been nearly impossible to detect before.
A European hand in an American mission
While Roman is a NASA-led project, the European Space Agency (ESA) has a significant stake in its success. ESA contributed star trackers, batteries, and detectors for the coronagraph instrument, a technology demonstration designed to block starlight and reveal faint planets. The agency will also support communications through its deep-space ground station network, including a new 35-metre antenna in New Norcia, Australia, which will enable data download from the telescope.
ESA's Director of Science, Carole Mundell, congratulated NASA on the launch and highlighted the collaborative effort. "Together, we are opening new windows on the cosmos," she said. This partnership mirrors ESA's work on its own Euclid telescope, which is also studying the dark universe from space.
A panoramic view of the sky
Roman is equipped with a 2.4-metre primary mirror and two instruments: the Wide Field Instrument and the Coronagraph Instrument. Its panoramic view, crisp infrared vision, and ability to quickly re-orient itself will allow it to survey large areas of the sky efficiently. The telescope will map the clustering of galaxies over time and space, and study light from thousands of distant type Ia supernovas, which are crucial for tracing the expansion of the Universe.
Bethan James, ESA's Roman Project Scientist, expressed excitement about the mission's potential. "Roman should provide our clearest picture yet of whether dark energy is truly constant or whether it evolves over cosmic time," she said. She also noted the exoplanet census, which could discover thousands of new worlds, including cold planets and free-floating planets that have remained largely beyond our reach until now.
On its way to L2
Roman is now on a steady course to the second Sun-Earth Lagrange point (L2), nearly 1.5 million kilometres from Earth. This location gives the telescope an unobstructed view of almost 12% of the sky, a vast area compared to other observatories. Like ESA's Euclid and the James Webb Space Telescope, Roman will orbit L2 in a path much larger than the Moon's orbit around Earth.
Over the next three months, the Roman team will conduct a series of deployments, calibrations, and tests. Once commissioning is complete, the mission will begin science operations, starting with the release of its first science image. Roman is designed to spend at least five years scanning the infrared sky, with the potential to work for another five years beyond that.
The launch of Roman opens a new chapter in our understanding of the Universe. With its unique combination of depth, area, and image quality, the telescope has every opportunity to surprise us, as James noted. Whether it reveals the true nature of dark energy or uncovers unexpected phenomena, Roman's findings will shape astronomy for years to come.
