# Roman Space Telescope

*Spacecraft*

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, named after the astronomer who argued NASA into building Hubble. Its mirror is Hubble's size and its field of view is about a hundred times wider, so a survey that would have taken Hubble decades takes it months. It is looking for the effect of dark energy on how the universe expanded, and for planets around other stars by watching their gravity bend the light of stars behind them.

| | |
| --- | --- |
| Agency | NASA |
| Launched | 2026-08-30 - still working |
| From the Sun | 151,484,164 km (+18,450 km/d) |
| From the Earth | 692,643 km (+57,357 km/d) |
| A signal takes | 2 s |
| Travelling at | 29.5 km/s |

Distances and speed are computed from JPL Horizons trajectories and are true of 2026-09-05, changing at the rate given beside each. The interpolation itself is good to a few kilometres; what ages these figures is the date, not the arithmetic.

## Path

On its way to the same L2 region as JWST and Euclid, which takes about a month from launch. Until it arrives the line here is a cruise rather than a loop, and it is drawn where it actually is rather than where it is going.

## Along the way

- 2026-08-30 — Launched on a Falcon Heavy, bound for L2

## Elsewhere

- On the live map: https://www.orbitalmap.space/?world=solar-system&focus=roman
- The mission's own page: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/roman-space-telescope/
- This object as a page: https://www.orbitalmap.space/o/roman/
- Every object: https://www.orbitalmap.space/o/
- What this site is and what it reads: https://www.orbitalmap.space/llms.txt