NASA Completes Roman Space Telescope Assembly Early: The Successor to Hubble

NASA has announced that the assembly of the Roman Space Telescope, the next-gen wide-field infrared observatory, is complete—way ahead of schedule! Originally planned for a May 2027 launch, the new target is now locked in for Fall 2026. Roman is designed as a high-tier space observatory, ranking in the same elite class as Hubble and James Webb.

The telescope honors American astronomer Nancy Grace Roman, one of the first women to hold an executive role at NASA. Known as the “Mother of Hubble,” she played a critical role in the development of the legendary Hubble Space Telescope.

Next-Gen Infrared Observatory According to NASA, the telescope is now entering its comprehensive testing phase. Roman is equipped with two main pieces of legendary gear: a 288-megapixel wide-field infrared camera and a next-generation coronagraph.

In the summer of 2026, the telescope will be moved to the Kennedy Space Center. From there, it will launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket to the L2 Lagrange point—about 1.5 million kilometers away—the same zone occupied by the James Webb Space Telescope.

During the first five years of its mission, Roman is expected to discover over 100,000 planets, hundreds of millions of stars, and billions of galaxies. Scanning the universe hundreds of times faster than Hubble, this beast will farm over 20,000 TB (20 PB) of data. This massive data stream will be transmitted to Earth via a special radio channel and shared open-source with the entire scientific community, allowing astronomers worldwide to run co-op research missions.

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