NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley invites media to learn more about NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, scheduled to launch Sunday, Aug. 30, 2026, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Roman telescope will provide a wide, detailed view of the universe, helping scientists study dark energy, exoplanets, and cosmic structures. Roman also will test advanced technology designed to directly image planets around nearby stars — a key step in NASA’s search for life beyond Earth.
Ames subject matter experts will be available for virtual interviews to discuss Roman’s goals and the center’s contributions to the mission on Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2026, 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. PDT.
NASA Ames contributions to Roman
- Innovative software developed at NASA Ames, with collaborators at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and IPAC Caltech in Pasadena, California, is designed to improve Roman’s images and optimize observing plans, enhancing the ability of astronomers to capture expansive high-resolution pictures of the universe in optical and near-infrared light.
- Technology called Multi-Star Wavefront Control is designed to suppress excess light and reveal hidden exoplanets by eliminating overlapping glares from multi-star systems.
- NASA’s Advanced Supercomputing Division, based at NASA Ames, brings extensive experience in data pipelines and mission operations to advise the Roman project, helping to ensure the reliable performance of Roman’s ground-based systems and operations so that science data processing is efficient and the quality and integrity of the resulting science data products is high.
To request an interview, media can contact the Ames Office of Communications: arc-dl-newsroom@nasa.gov. Media can also request agency interviews about the Roman mission outside of this window by filling out this online form.
NASA Ames Roman subject matter experts
- Pamela Marcum, research scientist
- Ruslan Belikov, Exoplanet Technologies Group lead
- Jon M. Jenkins, TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) Science Processing Operations Center manager
For more information about NASA’s Roman mission, visit:
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Jeanne Neal
Ames Research Center, Silicon Valley
650-604-4789
Jeanne.c.neal@nasa.gov
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