Most Recent Announcement
Checking In and Reminder All News Currently on NASA's Roman Blog
Just checking in to say hi to all the new followers (and there are a lot!). I've been pretty quiet on this blog because almost all things Roman are related to commissioning at the moment. And any news I would announce is already being released on NASA's Roman blog. I encourage you to check in often and subscribe. https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/roman/
In the meantime, our team is planning a lot of exciting programming for the future. So stay tuned for those announcements. And of course, the best way to stay up to date is to follow us on social media @NancyRomanSci.
Have Something to Share or Promote? Submit Your Own Announcement
Roman is a community mission. To that end, we encourage you to share and submit your own announcements in our weekly newsletter. Please submit any request here.
Stay Connected and Up To Date
Excited about all the progress with Roman? Want to stay in the know? Now is the time to join the Roman community.
Follow us on social media @NancyRomanSci on Twitter, Blue Sky, Instagram, and Facebook.
If you are already part of the Roman community, please consider subscribing to our calendar to stay up to date, joining one of the new working groups, and contributing to Roman participation in AAS.
Subscribe
Go to the main blog spot and click the "Watch" button that will allow you to stay up to date with all blogs.
Submit Your Own Announcement
We are always looking for community input. If you have an announcement or news item you would like to submit to the Roman community, please submit your proposed post here.
Previous Announcements
Checking In and Reminder All News Currently on NASA's Roman Blog
Just checking in to say hi to all the new followers (and there are a lot!). I've been pretty quiet on this blog because almost all things Roman are related to commissioning at the moment. And any news I would announce is already being released on NASA's Roman blog. I encourage you to check in often and subscribe. https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/roman/
In the meantime, our team is planning a lot of exciting programming for the future. So stay tuned for those announcements. And of course, the best way to stay up to date is to follow us on social media @NancyRomanSci.
Have Something to Share or Promote? Submit Your Own Announcement
Roman is a community mission. To that end, we encourage you to share and submit your own announcements in our weekly newsletter. Please submit any request here.
Stay Connected and Up To Date
Excited about all the progress with Roman? Want to stay in the know? Now is the time to join the Roman community.
Follow us on social media @NancyRomanSci on Twitter, Blue Sky, Instagram, and Facebook.
If you are already part of the Roman community, please consider subscribing to our calendar to stay up to date, joining one of the new working groups, and contributing to Roman participation in AAS.
NASA Activates Roman’s Wide Field Instrument (WFI)
NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope team has successfully activated the Wide Field Instrument, a 300-megapixel infrared camera that will allow scientists to explore wide swaths of the cosmos very quickly without sacrificing exquisite detail.
Fuel Savings Double Potential Lifetime for NASA’s Roman Mission
The results are in: NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope’s very accurate first mid-course correction, along with other fuel savings, are expected to more than double the mission’s potential operational lifetime.
“As a result of exquisite planning by our orbital dynamics team, brilliant execution by the operations team, and a precise launch from SpaceX, Roman has fuel for at least 22 years of potential science operations,” said Jamie Dunn, center director at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
Roman Caught on Candid Camera
From community member Stephanie LaMassa: This is fun! During Live Astronomy at Dragon Con over Labor Day weekend, Bill Keel took a series of exposures of Roman as it’s journeying to L2. During Live Astro, Bill remotely controls a telescope at La Palma to observe fun things throughout the night (weather permitting) and then controls a telescope at Cerro Tololo later in the night (weather permitting) from the Space Track panel room while Roy Kilgard and I try to keep folks engaged with Q&A and other fun shenanigans while Bill is collecting data. (It turns out that watching a screen of GUIs to operate a telescope doesn’t make for exciting viewing.)
In the animation, you’ll see Roman transiting in front of an “otherwise anonymous galaxy KOS 222659.30215011” in Aquarius. Roman was 636,000 km away and at a magnitude of R=15.3. Bill took a series of 30 second exposures for a 10 minute total observation. I’m also including the trail image: an example of when we want satellite streaks in our images.
Roman Data Workshop at AAS249
Excited to get your hands dirty with Roman data? Then don't forget to sign-up for our workshop when you register for #AAS249 in Salt Lake City, UT:
Roman, JWST, TESS, Gaia, and More: Working with Big Data at MAST, Sunday, January 10, 2027 at 9am.
Adopt a Roman WFI Pixel
Claim your pixel on one of the first images! When Roman captures its first images, each pixel will represent a piece of the cosmos never seen before at this resolution. Claim your pixel and be part of this historic moment!
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/roman-space-telescope/adopt-a-pixel/
Have Something to Share or Promote? Submit Your Own Announcement
Roman is a community mission. To that end, we encourage you to share and submit your own announcements in our weekly newsletter. Please submit any request here.
Stay Connected and Up To Date
Excited about all the progress with Roman? Want to stay in the know? Now is the time to join the Roman community.
Follow us on social media @NancyRomanSci on Twitter, Blue Sky, Instagram, and Facebook.
If you are already part of the Roman community, please consider subscribing to our calendar to stay up to date, joining one of the new working groups, and contributing to Roman participation in AAS.
Roman Data Workshop at AAS249
Excited to get your hands dirty with Roman data? Then don't forget to sign-up for our workshop when you register for #AAS249 in Salt Lake City, UT:
Roman, JWST, TESS, Gaia, and More: Working with Big Data at MAST, Sunday, January 10, 2027 at 9am.
Adopt a Roman WFI Pixel
Claim your pixel on one of the first images! When Roman captures its first images, each pixel will represent a piece of the cosmos never seen before at this resolution. Claim your pixel and be part of this historic moment!
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/roman-space-telescope/adopt-a-pixel/
Have Something to Share or Promote? Submit Your Own Announcement
Roman is a community mission. To that end, we encourage you to share and submit your own announcements in our weekly newsletter. Please submit any request here.
Stay Connected and Up To Date
Excited about all the progress with Roman? Want to stay in the know? Now is the time to join the Roman community.
Follow us on social media @NancyRomanSci on Twitter, Blue Sky, Instagram, and Facebook.
If you are already part of the Roman community, please consider subscribing to our calendar to stay up to date, joining one of the new working groups, and contributing to Roman participation in AAS.
WOW! Roman has successfully launched and is on its way to L2 orbit. Here are some of my favorites.
Adopt a Roman WFI Pixel
Claim your pixel on one of the first images! When Roman captures its first images, each pixel will represent a piece of the cosmos never seen before at this resolution. Claim your pixel and be part of this historic moment!
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/roman-space-telescope/adopt-a-pixel/
Stay Up to Date with the Roman Blog and Commissioning Page
A lot will be happening with Roman as it deploys, enters L2 orbit, and begins commissioning. Get the latest information on the Roman Blog (hit subscribe): https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/roman/
For details about Roman's orbit, deployment, and commissioning plan, check out this interactive article: https://science.nasa.gov/missions/roman-space-telescope/roman-commissioning/
Tag #RomanLaunch On Social Media
Share and view your favorite launch photos on social media by using the #RomanLaunch hashtag. Don't forget to follow us on social media @NancyRomanSci on Twitter, Blue Sky, Instagram, and Facebook.
Roman Team Gathered One Last Time Before Launch
All science is GO for launch! Scientists came together in Cocoa Beach, FL, for the Roman Launch Science Meeting to share their plans for supporting a new era of discovery with Roman.
#RomanLaunch
Have Something to Share or Promote? Submit Your Own Announcement
Roman is a community mission. To that end, we encourage you to share and submit your own announcements in our weekly newsletter. Please submit any request here.
Stay Connected and Up To Date
Excited about all the progress with Roman? Want to stay in the know? Now is the time to join the Roman community.
Follow us on social media @NancyRomanSci on Twitter, Blue Sky, Instagram, and Facebook.
If you are already part of the Roman community, please consider subscribing to our calendar to stay up to date, joining one of the new working groups, and contributing to Roman participation in AAS.
I think we all know what this week in Roman is! But yes, this is the last post before launch. What a ride. It is truly a momentous occasion to be here. Thank you to everyone who has contributed, supported, and/or followed the mission along the way. Can't wait to see what comes next. Clear skies and GO ROMAN!
Social Media #RomanLaunch Hashtag
Our @NancyRomanSci will be using the #RomanLaunch hashtag throughout the launch. We encourage our community to use this hashtag as well!
Don't forget to follow us on social media @NancyRomanSci on Twitter, Blue Sky, Instagram, and Facebook.
Roman Blog During Launch Will be Frequently Updated
To stay up most up to date with happenings during launch, we encourage you to follow the Roman Blog: https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/roman/
Roman Team Gathers One Last Time Before Launch
All science is GO for launch! Scientists came together in Cocoa Beach, FL, for the Roman Launch Science Meeting to share their plans for supporting a new era of discovery with Roman.
#RomanLaunch
NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Arrives at Hangar
NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope arrived Tuesday to the SpaceX hangar at Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, just days before its scheduled launch.
Full story: https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/roman/2026/08/25/nasas-nancy-grace-roman-space-telescope-arrives-at-hangar/
"Shifting Landscapes" Recordings Now Online
Presentation videos from last month's Roman science conference "Shifting Landscapes" are now available online!
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLd0tYwyZN2Sc
Have Something to Share or Promote? Submit Your Own Announcement
Roman is a community mission. To that end, we encourage you to share and submit your own announcements in our weekly newsletter. Please submit any request here.
Stay Connected and Up To Date
Excited about all the progress with Roman? Want to stay in the know? Now is the time to join the Roman community.
Follow us on social media @NancyRomanSci on Twitter, Blue Sky, Instagram, and Facebook.
If you are already part of the Roman community, please consider subscribing to our calendar to stay up to date, joining one of the new working groups, and contributing to Roman participation in AAS.
"Shifting Landscapes" Recordings Now Online
Presentation videos from last month's Roman science conference "Shifting Landscapes" are now available online!
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLd0tYwyZN2Sc
Launch Dress Rehearsal Complete Ahead of NASA Roman Space Telescope Liftoff
The team preparing to launch NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope completed a mission dress rehearsal on Thursday from Florida’s space coast.
Have Something to Share or Promote? Submit Your Own Announcement
Roman is a community mission. To that end, we encourage you to share and submit your own announcements in our weekly newsletter. Please submit any request here.
Stay Connected and Up To Date
Excited about all the progress with Roman? Want to stay in the know? Now is the time to join the Roman community.
Follow us on social media @NancyRomanSci on Twitter, Blue Sky, Instagram, and Facebook.
If you are already part of the Roman community, please consider subscribing to our calendar to stay up to date, joining one of the new working groups, and contributing to Roman participation in AAS.
Next Roman Virtual Lecture Series on Thursday, August 20 2026 4:00-4:30 EDT/1:00-1:30 PDT
Our next Roman Virtual Lecture Series is on Thursday August 20, 2026 from 4-4:30 PM EDT/1-1:30 PM PDT.
Speaker:Andrew Benson (Carnegie Science)
Title: “Emulating Galacticus for the Roman Galaxy Redshift Survey”
The Roman Galaxy Redshift Survey will measure redshifts from slitless grism spectroscopy, and testing how reliably those redshifts can be extracted requires realistic simulated surveys - mock skies whose galaxy number densities, sizes, and emission-line strengths are right, not merely plausible. We build these by applying the Galacticus semi-analytic galaxy formation model to dark matter halo merger trees from the UNIT N-body simulations, and placing the resulting galaxies on a lightcone. This only works if Galacticus is calibrated against the observables that matter, and calibration is expensive: a single likelihood evaluation involving a stellar mass function requires evolving thousands of halos.
I will describe our approach to this problem. Building on an earlier fast-likelihood method that calibrates against the stellar-to-halo mass relation rather than the mass function directly, we now emulate Galacticus with Gaussian processes. From a 1024-point Latin hypercube spanning 20 model parameters, we train emulators — PCA-compressed, one Gaussian process per component — that predict stellar mass functions, star formation rate functions, sizes, and Hα luminosity functions in milliseconds, with calibrated uncertainties. Held-out tests show accuracies of 0.05–0.13 dex where the observational data lie. This makes simultaneous MCMC calibration against many datasets tractable, and reveals which observables constrain which parameters — including tensions between mass functions and galaxy sizes that point to genuine missing flexibility in the model physics rather than shortcomings of the fit. I will close with the status of the calibrated 16 deg² lightcone being delivered for the team's grism image simulations.
Call In Info: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/278909753462200?p=FfQvEwPNYtn896iqSX
Roman Integrated into Payload
From Jeff Kruk: There are some nice new photos of Roman integrated to the payload attach fitting on the public NASA photo page: https://images.nasa.gov/album/SpaceX_Roman_Space_Telescope
Host Your Own Roman Launch or First Look Observations Event
The NASA Roman mission is partnering with NASA's Universe of Learning to share the excitement of Roman launch and first images with communities across the country. Roman Community Events is supporting host sites who want to tap into this excitement and host public events in their local communities. Some information provided to those interested in hosting an event are posted below:
With Roman’s launch around the corner, now is the perfect time to organize a compelling event in your community! Roman provides a real-world opportunity for audiences to connect to and engage with NASA science, and ultimately see the universe in a new way: through the lens of Roman’s large-scale and pattern-finding surveys. By bringing Roman science to your audience, they can explore some of the biggest, persisting mysteries about space. You can learn more about Roman, opportunities to host your own event, and Roman resources at the links below:
If your institution intends to host a Roman launch or First Look Observations event and you would like to have your event known and listed on the event map, here, there are two ways to sign up:
- Fill out this form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSevySe6b1cywYSL4lOjXsR_xSc_5G9eay2V2EP9rm8uYxzmpA/viewform?linkId=982274078
- Send an email to Peter Sooy (peter.r.sooy@nasa.gov) or Brandon Lawton (lawton@stsci.edu)
MAST Summer Series Continues
The MAST Summer webinar series continues! This series is not specific to Roman, but will include a lot of useful tutorials that can be directly applicable to Roman data. We encourage you to tune in and find out.
Details and registration: https://archive.stsci.edu/contents/newsletters/april-2026/2026-summer-webinar
Have Something to Share or Promote? Submit Your Own Announcement
Roman is a community mission. To that end, we encourage you to share and submit your own announcements in our weekly newsletter. Please submit any request here.
Stay Connected and Up To Date
Excited about all the progress with Roman? Want to stay in the know? Now is the time to join the Roman community.
Follow us on social media @NancyRomanSci on Twitter, Blue Sky, Instagram, and Facebook.
If you are already part of the Roman community, please consider subscribing to our calendar to stay up to date, joining one of the new working groups, and contributing to Roman participation in AAS.
STScI's Deep Space Dialogues on Roman Scheduled for Tuesday, August 11 at 7pm EDT
Description
Speakers: Dr. Denton Gibson (NASA's Kennedy Space Center) and Dr. Jessica Lu (University of California, Berkeley)
The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope—NASA’s next astrophysics flagship mission— is slated to launch on August 30, 2026. Dr. Gibson, Launch Director with NASA's Launch Services Program, will discuss the engineering behind the telescope’s lift-off and the path to its final destination. Additionally, Dr. Lu will examine Roman’s science potential to survey the heart of our Milky Way galaxy and find a variety of objects—including isolated black holes—using innovative techniques.
Link with details: https://www.stsci.edu/contents/events/deep-space-dialogues/2026/nasas-nancy-grace-roman-space-telescope-countdown-to-exploration
Notes
This lecture will be presented with a livestream to YouTube, and questions can be asked in the YouTube chat. The recording will also be posted on our YouTube channel.
NASA Begins Fueling Roman
Roman is set to launch August 30 at 07:26 am EDT from NASA Kennedy Space Flight Center.
Technicians completed fueling NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, bringing it an important step closer to launch. On July 25, the team completed operations that carefully loaded 290 gallons of hydrazine fuel into the observatory at the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Full Story: https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/roman/2026/07/27/nasa-fuels-roman-space-telescope-for-late-august-launch/
Host Your Own Roman Launch or First Look Observations Event
The NASA Roman mission is partnering with NASA's Universe of Learning to share the excitement of Roman launch and first images with communities across the country. Roman Community Events is supporting host sites who want to tap into this excitement and host public events in their local communities. Some information provided to those interested in hosting an event are posted below:
With Roman’s launch around the corner, now is the perfect time to organize a compelling event in your community! Roman provides a real-world opportunity for audiences to connect to and engage with NASA science, and ultimately see the universe in a new way: through the lens of Roman’s large-scale and pattern-finding surveys. By bringing Roman science to your audience, they can explore some of the biggest, persisting mysteries about space. You can learn more about Roman, opportunities to host your own event, and Roman resources at the links below:
If your institution intends to host a Roman launch or First Look Observations event and you would like to have your event known and listed on the event map, here, there are two ways to sign up:
- Fill out this form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSevySe6b1cywYSL4lOjXsR_xSc_5G9eay2V2EP9rm8uYxzmpA/viewform?linkId=982274078
- Send an email to Peter Sooy (peter.r.sooy@nasa.gov) or Brandon Lawton (lawton@stsci.edu)
MAST Summer Series Continues
The MAST Summer webinar series continues! This series is not specific to Roman, but will include a lot of useful tutorials that can be directly applicable to Roman data. We encourage you to tune in and find out.
Details and registration: https://archive.stsci.edu/contents/newsletters/april-2026/2026-summer-webinar
Have Something to Share or Promote? Submit Your Own Announcement
Roman is a community mission. To that end, we encourage you to share and submit your own announcements in our weekly newsletter. Please submit any request here.
Stay Connected and Up To Date
Excited about all the progress with Roman? Want to stay in the know? Now is the time to join the Roman community.
Follow us on social media @NancyRomanSci on Twitter, Blue Sky, Instagram, and Facebook.
If you are already part of the Roman community, please consider subscribing to our calendar to stay up to date, joining one of the new working groups, and contributing to Roman participation in AAS.
NASA Begins Fueling Roman
Roman is set to launch August 30 at 07:26 am EDT from NASA Kennedy Space Flight Center.
Technicians completed fueling NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, bringing it an important step closer to launch. On July 25, the team completed operations that carefully loaded 290 gallons of hydrazine fuel into the observatory at the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Full Story: https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/roman/2026/07/27/nasa-fuels-roman-space-telescope-for-late-august-launch/
Host Your Own Roman Launch or First Look Observations Event
The NASA Roman mission is partnering with NASA's Universe of Learning to share the excitement of Roman launch and first images with communities across the country. Roman Community Events is supporting host sites who want to tap into this excitement and host public events in their local communities. Some information provided to those interested in hosting an event are posted below:
With Roman’s launch around the corner, now is the perfect time to organize a compelling event in your community! Roman provides a real-world opportunity for audiences to connect to and engage with NASA science, and ultimately see the universe in a new way: through the lens of Roman’s large-scale and pattern-finding surveys. By bringing Roman science to your audience, they can explore some of the biggest, persisting mysteries about space. You can learn more about Roman, opportunities to host your own event, and Roman resources at the links below:
If your institution intends to host a Roman launch or First Look Observations event and you would like to have your event known and listed on the event map, here, there are two ways to sign up:
- Fill out this form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSevySe6b1cywYSL4lOjXsR_xSc_5G9eay2V2EP9rm8uYxzmpA/viewform?linkId=982274078
- Send an email to Peter Sooy (peter.r.sooy@nasa.gov) or Brandon Lawton (lawton@stsci.edu)
MAST Summer Series Continues
The MAST Summer webinar series continues! This series is not specific to Roman, but will include a lot of useful tutorials that can be directly applicable to Roman data. We encourage you to tune in and find out.
Details and registration: https://archive.stsci.edu/contents/newsletters/april-2026/2026-summer-webinar
Have Something to Share or Promote? Submit Your Own Announcement
Roman is a community mission. To that end, we encourage you to share and submit your own announcements in our weekly newsletter. Please submit any request here.
Stay Connected and Up To Date
Excited about all the progress with Roman? Want to stay in the know? Now is the time to join the Roman community.
Follow us on social media @NancyRomanSci on Twitter, Blue Sky, Instagram, and Facebook.
If you are already part of the Roman community, please consider subscribing to our calendar to stay up to date, joining one of the new working groups, and contributing to Roman participation in AAS.
Host Your Own Roman Launch or First Look Observations Event
The NASA Roman mission is partnering with NASA's Universe of Learning to share the excitement of Roman launch and first images with communities across the country. Roman Community Events is supporting host sites who want to tap into this excitement and host public events in their local communities. Some information provided to those interested in hosting an event are posted below:
With Roman’s launch around the corner, now is the perfect time to organize a compelling event in your community! Roman provides a real-world opportunity for audiences to connect to and engage with NASA science, and ultimately see the universe in a new way: through the lens of Roman’s large-scale and pattern-finding surveys. By bringing Roman science to your audience, they can explore some of the biggest, persisting mysteries about space. You can learn more about Roman, opportunities to host your own event, and Roman resources at the links below:
If your institution intends to host a Roman launch or First Look Observations event and you would like to have your event known and listed on the event map, here, there are two ways to sign up:
- Fill out this form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSevySe6b1cywYSL4lOjXsR_xSc_5G9eay2V2EP9rm8uYxzmpA/viewform?linkId=982274078
- Send an email to Peter Sooy (peter.r.sooy@nasa.gov) or Brandon Lawton (lawton@stsci.edu)
Telescope Milestone: Teams Check Out NASA Roman Solar Panels
The solar panels that will help power NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Telescope completed prelaunch cleaning and inspections July 8 at the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Full story here: https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/roman/2026/07/16/telescope-milestone-teams-check-out-nasa-roman-solar-panels/
Press Release: NASA’s Roman Launch Preparations Proceed
With less than two months until the launch of NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, engineers at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida are preparing the observatory for its trip to space.
Full story: https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/roman/2026/07/09/nasas-roman-launch-preparations-proceed/
Press Release: NASA’s Roman Telescope Will Spot Distant Black Holes That Shred Stars
How do black holes at the center of galaxies form and grow over time? To answer this question, scientists need to detect and study supermassive black holes at great distances, which existed much earlier in the universe’s history. New research suggests NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which is on track to launch Aug. 30, 2026, will be able to detect these distant, ancient black holes that existed up to 11 billion years ago.
“The Roman Space Telescope is going to be transformative for transient science,” said lead author Mitchell Karmen of the Johns Hopkins University, a graduate student and National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow. “Thanks to Roman’s high sensitivity, we can find multiple tidal disruption events out to greater distances and earlier cosmic times than ever before.”
Cycle 1 Proposal Results
Following the review of 374 submitted proposals, the Roman Science Support Center is pleased to announce the 118 approved programs for the inaugural Roman Cycle 1 General Investigator Program.
Reflecting Roman’s focus on community-driven exploration of its expansive datasets, the vast majority of the selected programs are dedicated to data analysis, theoretical investigations, and laboratory astrophysics. The selections include:
61 Small, 45 Medium, and 12 Large programs.
Of these, five programs request General Astrophysics Surveys, utilizing a total of 1,456 hours of telescope time. The Cycle 1 proposals oversubscribed the funding allocation by a factor of 4.5 and the available hours by a factor of 10.
The science spans a diverse array of topics, broadly ranging from the solar system to large scale structure.
We extend our deep gratitude to the reviewers and Telescope Allocation Committee members for their time and expertise.
Full list of approved programs: https://roman.ipac.caltech.edu/cycle1-approved-programs
MAST Summer Series Continues
The MAST Summer webinar series continues! This series is not specific to Roman, but will include a lot of useful tutorials that can be directly applicable to Roman data. We encourage you to tune in and find out.
Details and registration: https://archive.stsci.edu/contents/newsletters/april-2026/2026-summer-webinar
Have Something to Share or Promote? Submit Your Own Announcement
Roman is a community mission. To that end, we encourage you to share and submit your own announcements in our weekly newsletter. Please submit any request here.
Stay Connected and Up To Date
Excited about all the progress with Roman? Want to stay in the know? Now is the time to join the Roman community.
Follow us on social media @NancyRomanSci on Twitter, Blue Sky, Instagram, and Facebook.
If you are already part of the Roman community, please consider subscribing to our calendar to stay up to date, joining one of the new working groups, and contributing to Roman participation in AAS.
Wrap Up: Shifting Landscapes in Astrophysics Roman Summer Science Conference
That's a wrap! 🎉
The Shifting Landscapes Conference brought together the Roman community at Caltech IPAC for 4 days of exciting presentations and discussion on the science Roman will unlock. Just wait till next year's summer conference to see real data!
Slides for all talks can be found here: https://workshop.ipac.caltech.edu/roman2026/page/agenda
Telescope Milestone: Teams Check Out NASA Roman Solar Panels
The solar panels that will help power NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Telescope completed prelaunch cleaning and inspections July 8 at the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Full story here: https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/roman/2026/07/16/telescope-milestone-teams-check-out-nasa-roman-solar-panels/
Press Release: NASA’s Roman Launch Preparations Proceed
With less than two months until the launch of NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, engineers at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida are preparing the observatory for its trip to space.
Full story: https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/roman/2026/07/09/nasas-roman-launch-preparations-proceed/
Press Release: NASA’s Roman Telescope Will Spot Distant Black Holes That Shred Stars
How do black holes at the center of galaxies form and grow over time? To answer this question, scientists need to detect and study supermassive black holes at great distances, which existed much earlier in the universe’s history. New research suggests NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which is on track to launch Aug. 30, 2026, will be able to detect these distant, ancient black holes that existed up to 11 billion years ago.
“The Roman Space Telescope is going to be transformative for transient science,” said lead author Mitchell Karmen of the Johns Hopkins University, a graduate student and National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow. “Thanks to Roman’s high sensitivity, we can find multiple tidal disruption events out to greater distances and earlier cosmic times than ever before.”
Roman-Subaru Synergistic Observations Proposals Due Today (July 17, 2026)
Subaru has announced a call for proposals for "Subaru Time for Roman-Subaru Synergistic Observations," due July 17, 2026.
Details can be found here: https://www.ir.isas.jaxa.jp/Roman/SubaruCall/roman_subaru_call.html
Additionally, on Feb 17, 2026: Priority in Themes for Roman Subaru Synergistic Observations were announced. The Report by Steering Group for the priority of the themes for Roman-Subaru Synergistic Observations based on the White Paper Submission is now available.
Cycle 1 Proposal Results
Following the review of 374 submitted proposals, the Roman Science Support Center is pleased to announce the 118 approved programs for the inaugural Roman Cycle 1 General Investigator Program.
Reflecting Roman’s focus on community-driven exploration of its expansive datasets, the vast majority of the selected programs are dedicated to data analysis, theoretical investigations, and laboratory astrophysics. The selections include:
61 Small, 45 Medium, and 12 Large programs.
Of these, five programs request General Astrophysics Surveys, utilizing a total of 1,456 hours of telescope time. The Cycle 1 proposals oversubscribed the funding allocation by a factor of 4.5 and the available hours by a factor of 10.
The science spans a diverse array of topics, broadly ranging from the solar system to large scale structure.
We extend our deep gratitude to the reviewers and Telescope Allocation Committee members for their time and expertise.
Full list of approved programs: https://roman.ipac.caltech.edu/cycle1-approved-programs
MAST Summer Series Continues
The MAST Summer webinar series continues! This series is not specific to Roman, but will include a lot of useful tutorials that can be directly applicable to Roman data. We encourage you to tune in and find out.
Details and registration: https://archive.stsci.edu/contents/newsletters/april-2026/2026-summer-webinar
Have Something to Share or Promote? Submit Your Own Announcement
Roman is a community mission. To that end, we encourage you to share and submit your own announcements in our weekly newsletter. Please submit any request here.
Stay Connected and Up To Date
Excited about all the progress with Roman? Want to stay in the know? Now is the time to join the Roman community.
Follow us on social media @NancyRomanSci on Twitter, Blue Sky, Instagram, and Facebook.
If you are already part of the Roman community, please consider subscribing to our calendar to stay up to date, joining one of the new working groups, and contributing to Roman participation in AAS.
Cycle 1 Proposal Results
Following the review of 374 submitted proposals, the Roman Science Support Center is pleased to announce the 118 approved programs for the inaugural Roman Cycle 1 General Investigator Program.
Reflecting Roman’s focus on community-driven exploration of its expansive datasets, the vast majority of the selected programs are dedicated to data analysis, theoretical investigations, and laboratory astrophysics. The selections include:
61 Small, 45 Medium, and 12 Large programs.
Of these, five programs request General Astrophysics Surveys, utilizing a total of 1,456 hours of telescope time. The Cycle 1 proposals oversubscribed the funding allocation by a factor of 4.5 and the available hours by a factor of 10.
The science spans a diverse array of topics, broadly ranging from the solar system to large scale structure.
We extend our deep gratitude to the reviewers and Telescope Allocation Committee members for their time and expertise.
Full list of approved programs: https://roman.ipac.caltech.edu/cycle1-approved-programs
Roman-Subaru Synergistic Observations Proposals Due July 17, 2026
Subaru has announced a call for proposals for "Subaru Time for Roman-Subaru Synergistic Observations," due July 17, 2026.
Details can be found here: https://www.ir.isas.jaxa.jp/Roman/SubaruCall/roman_subaru_call.html
Additionally, on Feb 17, 2026: Priority in Themes for Roman Subaru Synergistic Observations were announced. The Report by Steering Group for the priority of the themes for Roman-Subaru Synergistic Observations based on the White Paper Submission is now available.
Roman @ EAS 2026, Lausanne, Switzerland
Excitement is building for the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope as launch approaches! The dedicated EAS 2026 session, “Getting Ready for Science with the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope,” attracted a large and engaged audience, with lively discussions on the mission’s science potential, data access, and analysis opportunities. The strong turnout highlighted the growing interest within the European community and its eagerness to prepare for the wealth of Roman data to come.
Awesome Photos: Roman Has Arrived at the Launch Site
On Sunday, June 21, NASA’s Pegasus barge arrived at the Launch Complex 39 turn basin at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida carrying NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope.
.Full story here: https://nasa.tumblr.com/post/820144994942844928/roman-has-arrived-at-the-launch-site
MAST Summer Series
The MAST Summer webinar series returns! This series is not specific to Roman, but will include a lot of useful tutorials that can be directly applicable to Roman data. We encourage you to tune in and find out.
Details and registration: https://archive.stsci.edu/contents/newsletters/april-2026/2026-summer-webinar
Send Your Name To L2 with Roman
Have you ever wanted to have your name 'Roman' a million miles away?
Now you can!
Send your name along the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, scheduled to launch Aug. 30, 2026!
Sign up here: https://go.nasa.gov/4ejkRcR
Submissions close July 12.
Have Something to Share or Promote? Submit Your Own Announcement
Roman is a community mission. To that end, we encourage you to share and submit your own announcements in our weekly newsletter. Please submit any request here.
Stay Connected and Up To Date
Excited about all the progress with Roman? Want to stay in the know? Now is the time to join the Roman community.
Follow us on social media @NancyRomanSci on Twitter, Blue Sky, Instagram, and Facebook.
If you are already part of the Roman community, please consider subscribing to our calendar to stay up to date, joining one of the new working groups, and contributing to Roman participation in AAS.
Registration Closing Today: Shifting Landscapes in Astrophysics - New Frontiers to Explore with Roman, July 13-16, 2026, Pasadena, CA
From the event organizers:
Registration closes today for "Shifting Landscapes in Astrophysics: New Frontiers to Explore with Roman," July 13–16, 2026, at Caltech in Pasadena, CA. This conference is hosted by the Roman Science Support Center (SSC) at Caltech/IPAC. Make sure to register and take advantage of the discounted hotel rooms.
June 26, 2026 is the deadline for:
- In-person Conference Registration
- Booking the discounted hotel room block
- Conference dinner registration
The conference website provides additional information on abstracts, invited speakers, the venue, other hotel options and more.
As we approach the launch of NASA’s next flagship mission, the community is invited to participate in the next Roman Science Conference. At this meeting, we will focus on exciting
new astrophysical landscapes ripe for exploration with Roman’s Wide Field Instrument (WFI) and Coronagraph Instrument (CGI) covering topics spanning a wide range of Roman science from exoplanets to stellar evolution, galaxies, and cosmology.
By leveraging Roman's unique combination of high spatial resolution, sensitivity, wide-field imaging, and slitless spectroscopy, the community is positioned to answer some of the most pressing questions in modern astrophysics. Join us as we prepare for a new era of Roman science!
We look forward to seeing you there!
The Science Conference LOC
For conference details, abstract submission, and registration, please visit our official conference website: https://conference.ipac.caltech.edu/roman2026
Scientific Organizing Committee (SOC): Lee Armus (Caltech/IPAC, chair), Rachael Beaton (STScI), Casey Lam (Carnegie Science), Ryan Lau (Caltech/IPAC), Casey Papovich (Texas A&M Univ.), Denise Stephens (BYU), Sabrina Stierwalt (Occidental College), Ashley Villar (Harvard Univ.), Aaron Yung (STScI).
Local Organizing Committee (LOC): Frank Aragon (Caltech/IPAC), Wendy Burt (Caltech/IPAC), David Imel (Caltech/IPAC), Keunho Kim (Caltech/IPAC), Sean Kindt (Caltech/IPAC), Seppo Laine (Caltech/IPAC), Laura Lenkic (Caltech/IPAC), Wanggi Lim (Caltech/IPAC), Tiffany Meshkat (Caltech/IPAC, chair), Eric Oh (Caltech/IPAC), Schuyler Van Dyk (Caltech/IPAC).
Awesome Photos: Roman Has Arrived at the Launch Site
On Sunday, June 21, NASA’s Pegasus barge arrived at the Launch Complex 39 turn basin at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida carrying NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope.
.Full story here: https://nasa.tumblr.com/post/820144994942844928/roman-has-arrived-at-the-launch-site
AAS 248 Recap
What a fun time at AAS248 in Pasadena. If you weren't there, here are some pics and links to some presentations.
STScI Town Hall: STScI Town Hall - June 2026, AAS 248
MAST Summer Series
The MAST Summer webinar series returns! This series is not specific to Roman, but will include a lot of useful tutorials that can be directly applicable to Roman data. We encourage you to tune in and find out.
Details and registration: https://archive.stsci.edu/contents/newsletters/april-2026/2026-summer-webinar
Send Your Name To L2 with Roman
Have you ever wanted to have your name 'Roman' a million miles away?
Now you can!
Send your name along the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, scheduled to launch Aug. 30, 2026!
Sign up here: https://go.nasa.gov/4ejkRcR
Submissions close July 12.
Roman Launch Readiness Date Now Set for August 30th
It's official: NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is officially slated to launch Aug. 30
Read more at Roman's new mission blog: https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/roman/2026/06/03/hello-world-nasa-shares-new-home-for-roman-space-telescope-updates/
New NASA Mission Blog
Yes, you read that right, Roman HQ has a new mission blog, which will serve as NASA's hub for the mission's launch updates, where all are invited for behind-the-scenes looks on Roman's road to launch and journey to its destination in space: the second Sun-Earth Lagrange point, or L2. Follow along to join in on the excitement! https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/roman/
The Roman Mission blog is different from the Roman Forum Blog that you are currently reading, which will still continue to write updates geared towards scientists.
New and Improved MAST Subscription Service
MAST has switched to a new Subscription interface and service, updating a system that was over a decade old. The new service includes several improvements: a more accessible UI, better integration with our modern search forms, and improved email content. If you had subscriptions defined in our old service, they’ve been migrated to our new system, and you’ll see them once you sign in to your account.
The new Subscription form (see figure 1) supports our flagship missions: HST, JWST, and Roman. You can subscribe to get notices by Program or dataset ID. In the case of JWST, you can further specify an Observation and Visit ID within a Program and for Roman (once the mission is active), a Pass and Segment number within a Program. Most users will want hourly notifications, to get a notice as soon as updates hit the Archive, but you may find our daily cadence better suited to your needs.
In addition to visiting the Subscription interface directly, you can also create subscriptions or see your current ones via our Mission Search interface. Once you are signed into your MyST account, you’ll find these Subscription options available under your account menu in the upper right (see figure 2). You can create Subscriptions from within our modern search interfaces now!
Perhaps the biggest change is an update to the format of the emails you receive. In addition to a newly styled layout (see figure 3), links will take you to the appropriate mission search form to provide more direct access to those datasets, rather than to our multi-mission search form. New with this service, each notification also includes a link to a JSON file containing every specific file that triggered a notification during the window. This provides specific information on the calibrated science products that changed status, a big improvement from the old service that linked to all datasets in a program whether they changed status or not. You can even directly pass this JSON file into astroquery.mast to download those products directly!
We’ve created a Subscription Migration Guide that summarizes differences between the old and new service, and some examples of how to make a new subscription with our new interface. As always, if you have any questions or issues, file an Archive help desk ticket.
Read more: https://archive.stsci.edu/contents/newsletters/may-2026/mast-subscriptions
Update on Roman-Subaru Synergistic Observations Proposals Due July 17, 2026
Subaru has announced a call for proposals for "Subaru Time for Roman-Subaru Synergistic Observations," due July 17, 2026.
Details can be found here: https://www.ir.isas.jaxa.jp/Roman/SubaruCall/roman_subaru_call.html
Additionally, on Feb 17, 2026: Priority in Themes for Roman Subaru Synergistic Observations were announced. The Report by Steering Group for the priority of the themes for Roman-Subaru Synergistic Observations based on the White Paper Submission is now available.
Have Something to Share or Promote? Submit Your Own Announcement
Roman is a community mission. To that end, we encourage you to share and submit your own announcements in our weekly newsletter. Please submit any request here.
Stay Connected and Up To Date
Excited about all the progress with Roman? Want to stay in the know? Now is the time to join the Roman community.
Follow us on social media @NancyRomanSci on Twitter, Blue Sky, Instagram, and Facebook.
If you are already part of the Roman community, please consider subscribing to our calendar to stay up to date, joining one of the new working groups, and contributing to Roman participation in AAS.
In the Spot Light: Mike Drury, Deputy Integration and Testing Manager for Roman
With Roman integrated, tested, packed, and ready to go, it is a great opportunity to highlight and appreciate all those involved in the process. There is a great article already written on Mike Drury, the Deputy Integration and Testing Manager for Roman. Mike Drury began at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, as a temporary technician — a contractor hired for six weeks to set up High Capacity Centrifuge tests. Six weeks then turned into three months and, eventually, over 40 years.
Read the full story here: https://www.nasa.gov/people-of-nasa/goddard-people/mike-drury-a-40-year-legacy-of-precision/
Press Release: NASA's Roman Poised to Transform Hunt for Elusive Neutron Stars
Researchers are planning to get creative with NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope to uncover and weigh these elusive objects. By measuring tiny shifts in starlight caused by their gravity, Roman may reveal a hidden population of isolated neutron stars and open a new window on extreme physics.
Read more: https://www.stsci.edu/contents/news-releases/2026/news-2026-202
Send Your Name To L2 with Roman
Have you ever wanted to have your name 'Roman' a million miles away?
Now you can!
Send your name along the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, scheduled to launch Aug. 30, 2026!
Sign up here: https://go.nasa.gov/4ejkRcR
Submissions close July 12.
Registration Closes Friday June 26th: Shifting Landscapes in Astrophysics - New Frontiers to Explore with Roman, July 13-16, 2026, Pasadena, CA
From the event organizers:
Registration will close soon for "Shifting Landscapes in Astrophysics: New Frontiers to Explore with Roman", July 13-16, 2026, at Caltech in Pasadena, CA. This conference is hosted by the Roman Science Support Center (SSC) at Caltech/IPAC.
As we approach the launch of this flagship mission, the community is invited to participate in the next Roman Science Conference to prepare for a new era of discovery. At this meeting we will cover new exciting landscapes poised for potential breakthroughs and explorations enabled by Roman’s Wide Field Instrument (WFI) and Coronagraph Instrument.
The conference will cover the full breadth of Roman’s scientific potential, including:
Exoplanet demographics and atmospheric characterization.
High-redshift galaxy evolution and the early universe.
Cosmology, dark energy, and large-scale structure.
New results and emerging questions that have surfaced since Roman was first envisioned.
By leveraging Roman’s unique combination of high spatial resolution, sensitivity, wide-field imaging and slitless spectroscopy, the community is positioned to answer some of the most pressing questions in modern astrophysics. Join us as we prepare for a new era of Roman science!
Important dates
Abstract Submission Deadline: May 22, 2026
Registration Deadline: June 26, 2026
Deadline to register for the Conference Dinner: June 26, 2026
Late Registration Deadline: July 8, 2026
Conference Dates: July 13-16, 2026
For conference details, abstract submission, and registration, please visit our official conference website: https://conference.ipac.caltech.edu/roman2026
Scientific Organizing Committee (SOC): Lee Armus (Caltech/IPAC, chair), Rachael Beaton (STScI), Casey Lam (Carnegie Science), Ryan Lau (Caltech/IPAC), Casey Papovich (Texas A&M Univ.), Denise Stephens (BYU), Sabrina Stierwalt (Occidental College), Ashley Villar (Harvard Univ.), Aaron Yung (STScI).
Local Organizing Committee (LOC): Frank Aragon (Caltech/IPAC), Wendy Burt (Caltech/IPAC), David Imel (Caltech/IPAC), Keunho Kim (Caltech/IPAC), Sean Kindt (Caltech/IPAC), Seppo Laine (Caltech/IPAC), Laura Lenkic (Caltech/IPAC), Wanggi Lim (Caltech/IPAC), Tiffany Meshkat (Caltech/IPAC, chair), Eric Oh (Caltech/IPAC), Schuyler Van Dyk (Caltech/IPAC).
Roman Launch Readiness Date Now Set for August 30th
It's official: NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is officially slated to launch Aug. 30
Read more at Roman's new mission blog: https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/roman/2026/06/03/hello-world-nasa-shares-new-home-for-roman-space-telescope-updates/
New NASA Mission Blog
Yes, you read that right, Roman HQ has a new mission blog, which will serve as NASA's hub for the mission's launch updates, where all are invited for behind-the-scenes looks on Roman's road to launch and journey to its destination in space: the second Sun-Earth Lagrange point, or L2. Follow along to join in on the excitement! https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/roman/
The Roman Mission blog is different from the Roman Forum Blog that you are currently reading, which will still continue to write updates geared towards scientists.
Roman @ AAS 248, Pasadena, CA
Come find us at AAS! A summary of Roman presentations is shown below. If an event is missing, please let me know. Plus, stop by the STScI and IPAC booths for new stickers!
A comprehensive list of Roman-related presentations, including oral contributions and posters, can be found here.
Sunday
Monday, June 15
- Exhibitor Theater Talk by Ori Fox: "The Roman Space Telescope is Almost Here. Are you ready?" 9:30am (Exhibitor Theater in Middle of Exhibition Hall)
- Roman Town Hall: 12:45-1:45pm (Ballroom A)
Tuesday, June 16
- Exhibitor Theater Talk by Alex Greenbaum: "Roman Coronagraph Instrument" 9:30am (Exhibitor Theater in Middle of Exhibition Hall)
Wednesday, June 17
- STScI Town Hall: 12:45-1:45pm (Ballroom A)
Thursday, June 18
Add to Your Calendar: Don’t miss all the great Roman programming at AAS 248, and great SWAG at the STScI, IPAC, and NASA booths. To keep track of Roman related programming at AAS, please subscribe to our Roman Events Calendar (must be logged in and signed up to the Roman Forum).
May Roman SOC Newsletter
The latest Roman SOC Newsletter is out!
The first Roman call for proposals, run by the Roman Science Support Center at IPAC, closed on March 17, 2026. In total, 374 proposals were submitted. Of these, 65 requested new observations totaling 14,386 hours of telescope time. Given the 1,200 hours available for this cycle, the oversubscription rate for new observations is approximately 12 to 1. The Cycle 1 program selection is expected to be announced no later than the end of June 2026. The observatory has successfully passed all final pre-launch tests at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. It will soon be shipped to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for final preparations, in order to meet a launch readiness date no earlier than August 30. Given a launch in early September, Roman is expected to be in science operations by the beginning of 2027, after a planned 90-day commissioning period. Additionally, the Roman Science User Panel held its inaugural meeting in May 2026.
The newsletter contains more information on community engagement, software, tools, documentation, conferences, and other resources.
Check it out: https://www.stsci.edu/contents/news/roman/2026/roman-science-operations-center-newsletter-may
Roman observations will provide unique constraints on stellar populations within our galaxy. The cadence, duration, and spatial resolution of the Roman Galactic Bulge Time-Domain Survey are well suited for asteroseismology, the study of stellar oscillations, particularly in red giants. The image shows an artistic representation of giant stars of varying radii relative to the Sun and highlights bright spots that cause luminosity variations. By studying the oscillation periods and amplitudes of these variations, we can infer the masses, ages, and radii of such stars. Studying the bulge population will allow us to resolve its stellar age distribution and therefore refine chemical evolution models. Furthermore, estimating the ages of stars with planets detected by Roman through microlensing will provide valuable constraints for planetary evolution models. Weiss et al. (2025) estimate that Roman time-domain surveys will enable the study of approximately 300,000 red giant stars using this method. This would represent the largest sample of its kind ever collected. Credit: NASA, STScI, Ralf Crawford (STScI)
New and Improved MAST Subscription Service
MAST has switched to a new Subscription interface and service, updating a system that was over a decade old. The new service includes several improvements: a more accessible UI, better integration with our modern search forms, and improved email content. If you had subscriptions defined in our old service, they’ve been migrated to our new system, and you’ll see them once you sign in to your account.
The new Subscription form (see figure 1) supports our flagship missions: HST, JWST, and Roman. You can subscribe to get notices by Program or dataset ID. In the case of JWST, you can further specify an Observation and Visit ID within a Program and for Roman (once the mission is active), a Pass and Segment number within a Program. Most users will want hourly notifications, to get a notice as soon as updates hit the Archive, but you may find our daily cadence better suited to your needs.
In addition to visiting the Subscription interface directly, you can also create subscriptions or see your current ones via our Mission Search interface. Once you are signed into your MyST account, you’ll find these Subscription options available under your account menu in the upper right (see figure 2). You can create Subscriptions from within our modern search interfaces now!
Perhaps the biggest change is an update to the format of the emails you receive. In addition to a newly styled layout (see figure 3), links will take you to the appropriate mission search form to provide more direct access to those datasets, rather than to our multi-mission search form. New with this service, each notification also includes a link to a JSON file containing every specific file that triggered a notification during the window. This provides specific information on the calibrated science products that changed status, a big improvement from the old service that linked to all datasets in a program whether they changed status or not. You can even directly pass this JSON file into astroquery.mast to download those products directly!
We’ve created a Subscription Migration Guide that summarizes differences between the old and new service, and some examples of how to make a new subscription with our new interface. As always, if you have any questions or issues, file an Archive help desk ticket.
Read more: https://archive.stsci.edu/contents/newsletters/may-2026/mast-subscriptions
Update on Roman-Subaru Synergistic Observations Proposals Due July 17, 2026
Subaru has announced a call for proposals for "Subaru Time for Roman-Subaru Synergistic Observations," due July 17, 2026.
Details can be found here: https://www.ir.isas.jaxa.jp/Roman/SubaruCall/roman_subaru_call.html
Additionally, on Feb 17, 2026: Priority in Themes for Roman Subaru Synergistic Observations were announced. The Report by Steering Group for the priority of the themes for Roman-Subaru Synergistic Observations based on the White Paper Submission is now available.
Have Something to Share or Promote? Submit Your Own Announcement
Roman is a community mission. To that end, we encourage you to share and submit your own announcements in our weekly newsletter. Please submit any request here.
Stay Connected and Up To Date
Excited about all the progress with Roman? Want to stay in the know? Now is the time to join the Roman community.
Follow us on social media @NancyRomanSci on Twitter, Blue Sky, Instagram, and Facebook.
If you are already part of the Roman community, please consider subscribing to our calendar to stay up to date, joining one of the new working groups, and contributing to Roman participation in AAS.
Apologies for the radio silence. I've been distracted the past few weeks, but I'm back with a few big announcement.
Roman Launch Readiness Date Now Set for August 30th
It's official: NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is officially slated to launch Aug. 30
Read more at Roman's new mission blog: https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/roman/2026/06/03/hello-world-nasa-shares-new-home-for-roman-space-telescope-updates/
New NASA Mission Blog
Yes, you read that right, Roman HQ has a new mission blog, which will serve as NASA's hub for the mission's launch updates, where all are invited for behind-the-scenes looks on Roman's road to launch and journey to its destination in space: the second Sun-Earth Lagrange point, or L2. Follow along to join in on the excitement! https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/roman/
The Roman Mission blog is different from the Roman Forum Blog that you are currently reading, which will still continue to write updates geared towards scientists.
Roman @ AAS 248, Pasadena, CA
Come find us at AAS! A summary of Roman presentations is shown below. If an event is missing, please let me know. Plus, stop by the STScI and IPAC booths for new stickers!
A comprehensive list of Roman-related presentations, including oral contributions and posters, can be found here.
Sunday
Monday, June 15
- Exhibitor Theater Talk by Ori Fox: "The Roman Space Telescope is Almost Here. Are you ready?" 9:30am (Exhibitor Theater in Middle of Exhibition Hall)
- Roman Town Hall: 12:45-1:45pm (Ballroom A)
Tuesday, June 16
- Exhibitor Theater Talk by Alex Greenbaum: "Roman Coronagraph Instrument" 10:30am (Exhibitor Theater in Middle of Exhibition Hall)
Wednesday, June 17
- STScI Town Hall: 12:45-1:45pm (Ballroom A)
Thursday, June 18
Add to Your Calendar: Don’t miss all the great Roman programming at AAS 248, and great SWAG at the STScI, IPAC, and NASA booths. To keep track of Roman related programming at AAS, please subscribe to our Roman Events Calendar (must be logged in and signed up to the Roman Forum).
May Roman SOC Newsletter
The latest Roman SOC Newsletter is out!
The first Roman call for proposals, run by the Roman Science Support Center at IPAC, closed on March 17, 2026. In total, 374 proposals were submitted. Of these, 65 requested new observations totaling 14,386 hours of telescope time. Given the 1,200 hours available for this cycle, the oversubscription rate for new observations is approximately 12 to 1. The Cycle 1 program selection is expected to be announced no later than the end of June 2026. The observatory has successfully passed all final pre-launch tests at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. It will soon be shipped to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for final preparations, in order to meet a launch readiness date no earlier than August 30. Given a launch in early September, Roman is expected to be in science operations by the beginning of 2027, after a planned 90-day commissioning period. Additionally, the Roman Science User Panel held its inaugural meeting in May 2026.
The newsletter contains more information on community engagement, software, tools, documentation, conferences, and other resources.
Check it out: https://www.stsci.edu/contents/news/roman/2026/roman-science-operations-center-newsletter-may
Roman observations will provide unique constraints on stellar populations within our galaxy. The cadence, duration, and spatial resolution of the Roman Galactic Bulge Time-Domain Survey are well suited for asteroseismology, the study of stellar oscillations, particularly in red giants. The image shows an artistic representation of giant stars of varying radii relative to the Sun and highlights bright spots that cause luminosity variations. By studying the oscillation periods and amplitudes of these variations, we can infer the masses, ages, and radii of such stars. Studying the bulge population will allow us to resolve its stellar age distribution and therefore refine chemical evolution models. Furthermore, estimating the ages of stars with planets detected by Roman through microlensing will provide valuable constraints for planetary evolution models. Weiss et al. (2025) estimate that Roman time-domain surveys will enable the study of approximately 300,000 red giant stars using this method. This would represent the largest sample of its kind ever collected. Credit: NASA, STScI, Ralf Crawford (STScI)
New and Improved MAST Subscription Service
MAST has switched to a new Subscription interface and service, updating a system that was over a decade old. The new service includes several improvements: a more accessible UI, better integration with our modern search forms, and improved email content. If you had subscriptions defined in our old service, they’ve been migrated to our new system, and you’ll see them once you sign in to your account.
The new Subscription form (see figure 1) supports our flagship missions: HST, JWST, and Roman. You can subscribe to get notices by Program or dataset ID. In the case of JWST, you can further specify an Observation and Visit ID within a Program and for Roman (once the mission is active), a Pass and Segment number within a Program. Most users will want hourly notifications, to get a notice as soon as updates hit the Archive, but you may find our daily cadence better suited to your needs.
In addition to visiting the Subscription interface directly, you can also create subscriptions or see your current ones via our Mission Search interface. Once you are signed into your MyST account, you’ll find these Subscription options available under your account menu in the upper right (see figure 2). You can create Subscriptions from within our modern search interfaces now!
Perhaps the biggest change is an update to the format of the emails you receive. In addition to a newly styled layout (see figure 3), links will take you to the appropriate mission search form to provide more direct access to those datasets, rather than to our multi-mission search form. New with this service, each notification also includes a link to a JSON file containing every specific file that triggered a notification during the window. This provides specific information on the calibrated science products that changed status, a big improvement from the old service that linked to all datasets in a program whether they changed status or not. You can even directly pass this JSON file into astroquery.mast to download those products directly!
We’ve created a Subscription Migration Guide that summarizes differences between the old and new service, and some examples of how to make a new subscription with our new interface. As always, if you have any questions or issues, file an Archive help desk ticket.
Read more: https://archive.stsci.edu/contents/newsletters/may-2026/mast-subscriptions
Update on Roman-Subaru Synergistic Observations Proposals Due July 17, 2026
Subaru has announced a call for proposals for "Subaru Time for Roman-Subaru Synergistic Observations," due July 17, 2026.
Details can be found here: https://www.ir.isas.jaxa.jp/Roman/SubaruCall/roman_subaru_call.html
Additionally, on Feb 17, 2026: Priority in Themes for Roman Subaru Synergistic Observations were announced. The Report by Steering Group for the priority of the themes for Roman-Subaru Synergistic Observations based on the White Paper Submission is now available.
Have Something to Share or Promote? Submit Your Own Announcement
Roman is a community mission. To that end, we encourage you to share and submit your own announcements in our weekly newsletter. Please submit any request here.
Stay Connected and Up To Date
Excited about all the progress with Roman? Want to stay in the know? Now is the time to join the Roman community.
Follow us on social media @NancyRomanSci on Twitter, Blue Sky, Instagram, and Facebook.
If you are already part of the Roman community, please consider subscribing to our calendar to stay up to date, joining one of the new working groups, and contributing to Roman participation in AAS.
