'It's going to do things that currently are impossible': The Roman Space Telescope, NASA's next great observatory, is ready to launch Aug. 30

Space.com ^ | July 29, 2026 | Monisha Ravisetti

[Twotone]

A major space observatory is just one month away from leaving this planet.

NASA scientists got together Wednesday (July 29) to share a status update on the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope — the agency's next great observatory that will soon join the ranks of absolute legends like the Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope.

And that press conference was overflowing with good news. The $4 billion Roman Space Telescope is scheduled to launch on a SpaceX rocket on Aug. 30 at 7:26 a.m. EDT (1126 GMT). That's nine months ahead of schedule according to the team.

"In 30 days, we're going to be launching Roman, testing it out, opening the deployable aperture cover, looking at the sky, and sending data down to the ground for the first time," Jeremy Perkins, Roman's telescope integration and test scientist, said during the press conference at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Wednesday's update comes just days after NASA announced Roman is loaded up with hydrazine fuel, a kind of fuel that's known to be very efficient — though at the cost of being toxic and unstable. For that reason, the agency is looking for ways to move away from this kind of fuel, but it's still used often until a suitable replacement becomes available.

And with Roman, a lot of hydrazine is necessary. This is for a few reasons, as Perkins explained.

---

TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: nasa; roman; spacetelepscope

[fishtank]

The JWST has been confirming the predictions of creationist scientists.

I expect the Roman will continue that pattern.

[KC Burke]

Nancy Grace?

[2nd Amendment]

The next thing you know they will find collagen and protein in 200 million year old dinosaur fossils!

[pierrem15]

The Roman Telescope? Does it have Senatus Populusque Romanus etched on it?

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

Since Hubble, it must be very discouraging to write textbooks about astronomy. Even a first draft, on review, must be so peppered with errors, corrections and updates that it’s not worth the effort. Now add the other space observatories, and it’s a bust.

[Repeal The 17th]

Nancy (Grace) Roman...

[AndyJackson]

the predictions of creationist scientists.

This is the kind of ignorant meaningless nonsense that got us Fauci and covid "science," all of which were scams. Sure scientists specialize but specialization is not supposed to be a filter that predetermines allowed and disallowed outcomes. At the end of the day science is the relentless pursuit of truth without fear or favor - wherever it may go. What you do with it is a moral/ethical problem, but that is not an issue of science per se.

[posterchild]

Perhaps it can give better study to the ‘Viene et Venum Planet.’

[Bob Wills is still the king]

Nancy Grace?
____________________________________________________________

From Grok:

“Nancy Grace Roman (May 16, 1925 – December 25, 2018) was an American astronomer who made important contributions to stellar classification and stellar motions.

What is Nancy Grace Roman known for?

Nancy Grace Roman | Biography, Hubble Space Telescope ...
Nancy Grace Roman is known as the “Mother of Hubble”, serving as NASA’s first Chief of Astronomy and the first female executive at the agency.”

[fishtank]

Related to Ryland Grace?

[fishtank]

Yep!!!

Those dastardly creationists must have used time travel to fool all the paleontologists!!

[Blue Highway]

[cymbeline]

My guess is that they’re going to find that the universe is really, really huge, and a few more megawatts of power will be needed to store and analyze the incoming data that will support that conclusion.

[Verginius Rufus]

Back in those days there were only 7 planets.

The sun, the moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.

Fits in nicely with there being 7 days in a week.