The mission will generate hundreds of millions of stellar observations and will employ synthetic data, simulated detections, and machine learning to pre-filter false positives until real data arrive.

Roman will be stationed at the second Earth-Sun Lagrange point, similar to JWST, and its data will reveal whether projected exoplanet yields, including tens of thousands of transiting planets, materialize in practice.

Roman’s data will enable statistical studies of planet formation across the galaxy, examining how stellar chemistry and heavy element abundance influence planet occurrence and characteristics.

One core survey will map the Milky Way’s galactic bulge and reach toward the far side of the galaxy to build a comprehensive picture of planet populations across different environments.

Roman will use two complementary detection methods—transits and microlensing—to uncover a wide range of planets, from hot Jupiters to Earth- and Mars-sized worlds, including those at larger orbital distances and even beyond the habitable zone.

Public data from Roman will be freely accessible, inviting broad participation from the scientific community and beyond in the search for new worlds.

Atmospheric studies will be broad in scope, measuring temperature patterns and climate behavior across thousands of transiting worlds to provide a big-picture view that can guide deeper follow-ups.

Gravitational microlensing will run in parallel with transits to identify planets that do not orbit a star, including rogue or free-floating planets.

Transit observations will favor large, close-in planets due to greater light blocking and higher transit frequency, while microlensing will reveal planets on wider orbits and enable detection of Earth- to Mars-sized worlds that are hard to find with other methods.

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope aims to deliver one of the largest exoplanet catalogs in astronomy, with a planned launch by May 2027 and an earlier window possible in fall 2026.

Overall, Roman is envisioned as the first telescope designed from the outset for exoplanet science at this scale, aiming to build a robust catalog of rogue planets.

Roman is expected to dramatically expand exoplanet discovery, potentially identifying on the order of 100,000 worlds by surveying underexplored regions of the Milky Way.