About This Article
The latest news from the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Science Operations Center (SOC) at STScI
The Science Operation Center is hard at work preparing for the Cycle 1 Call for Proposals in Fall 2025. The expected date for the telescope launch is currently October 2026 and no later than May 2027. STScI will host a symposium on "Cosmic Cartography" on July 14-18 in Baltimore, MD. Registrations close on June 9. Several Roman events will be held at the upcoming AAS meeting #246 in Anchorage, AK. Meanwhile, the SpaceCraft + Integrated Payload Assembly (SCIPA) has been undergoing tests at the Goddard Space Flight Center in preparation for the thermal vacuum testing in late Summer 2025.
Roman Events
Coming Up
- AAS #246, Anchorage, Alaska, June 8–12, 2025
- Workshop: June 8, "Preparing for the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope: Working in Roman's Cloud-based Science Platform"
- Splinter on Cycle 1 Proposal Planning
- STScI and Roman Town Halls
- STScI Roman Booth in Exhibit Hall will host demos and posters.
- Roman Science Symposium, "Cosmic Cartography with Roman: Advances in Galaxy Structures, Distributions, Dark Matter, and Dark Energy", STScI Baltimore, July 14–18 2025.
- Registration closes on June 9
- Symposium schedule
- The symposium includes a half-day workshop on Roman tools and on the Roman Research Nexus, a science platform enabling access to cloud computing resources and Roman data.
- HWO25, "Towards the Habitable Worlds Observatory: Visionary Science and Transformational Technology", Johns Hopkins Bloomberg Center in Washington, DC, July 28–31, 2025
- IR Spectroscopy from Space, "New Frontiers from Exoplanets to the Early Universe", Pasadena, CA, October 6-8, 2025
Recently Held
- Transients From Space Workshop, March 11–13, 2025
- AAS #245, January 12-16, 2025 (SOC-led posters on Roman)
Roman Tools
CaSSI: The Calibration and Supplemental Search Interface allows authorized users to access TVAC and engineering data in MAST. These data can also be accessed through an API. Users with an authorized account are now able to access thermal vacuum test data and, during normal flight operations, they will be able to access focal plane data, telemetry, ephemeris, level 0 data from coronagraph and WFI, and guide window files. Please, send a message to the helpdesk if you need an authorized account.
ETC: The version R2025.5 of the Roman WFI Exposure Time Calculator, released on May 21st, features two new functionalities. Users are now able to expand a calculation over the flux values of a source in their selected scene, and expand a calculation over all possible detector choices of a selected calculation. For more information about the release, please check out the Release Notes and Known Issues.
Helpdesk: STScI and IPAC helpdesks have been merged to improve efficiency and offer a more user-friendly experience. In addition to the existent WFI analysis topics, the helpdesk portal has now three new categories in its landing page (coronagraph, proposals, and program funding). Users with questions about "WFI data analysis" will be able to select a subcategory for imaging, spectroscopy, or microlensing questions.
Roman Surveys
ROTAC report: On April 24, 2025, the Roman Observations Time Allocation Committee (ROTAC) released its final report and recommendation to allocate the telescope time to the three Core Community Surveys and the General Astrophysics Surveys. The recommendation for the High Latitude Wide Area Survey, High Latitude Time Domain Survey, and Galactic Bulge Time Domain Survey is 520, 180, and 438 days, respectively. Moreover, 389 days will be allocated to General Astrophysics Surveys (GAS) including the early-definition Galactic Plane Survey. Recommendations from the three Core Community Surveys are appended to the ROTAC report. The Galactic Plane Survey committee's report is expected to be released in early June.
First Look Observations: The Roman mission will issue a call for Community Input on Wide Field Instrument First Look Observations in early June 2025. The information requested will include the target name or designation, the location, and a short description of why the target is a good candidate for First Look Observations. Full details will be provided in the Call.
Roman Documentation
The Roman User Documentation System (RDox) website contains user-centered documentation for Simulation Tools, the Astronomers Proposal Tool (APT) User Guide, the Roman Data Handbook, and the Wide Field Instrument (WFI) Imaging Mode. RDox is being developed incrementally as the mission progresses towards launch.
- New release: RDox will be updated in early June. It will include revisions to the Data Handbook as SOC development continues as well as multiple additions, such as a new article dedicated to Data Releases. Additionally, there will be another publication in August focusing on updates to the Instrument Handbook.
- Release's highlights: RDox contains a suite of articles available about the Exposure Time Calculator (ETC). Users can access the ETC at three levels: the Roman version of Pandeia, a data-driven multi-mission software engine; the Roman Interactive Sensitivity Tool, a simplified and interactive version of Pandeia that uses a pre-computed grid; and the WFI ETC Web Interface, a graphical interface in your web browser that creates complex scenes and observations that can be easily shared with colleagues.
New technical publications
- W. Schultz et al., An Introduction to the Roman Data Monitoring Tool, Roman-STScI-000704
- G. Zasowsky et al., Roman Observations Time Allocation Committee: Final Report and Recommendations, arXiv:2505.10574 [astro-ph.IM]
Roman Resources
There are many ways to get involved in the Roman Mission:
- Roman Helpdesk: Ask questions about Roman instruments, simulation tools, proposal process, observations' preparation, grants, data archive and analysis.
- Roman Science Forum: Join to learn about and actively maximize the science achieved with the Wide Field Instrument.
- Roman Science Collaboration: Start new science collaborations and draw on the input of researchers with complementary interests and expertise.
- Roman Working Groups: Sign up to discuss and advise the Roman Project and its partners on key elements for preparing for WFI data and operations.
- Roman News at STScI: Access previous Science Operation Center newsletters.
- Roman Blog: Read weekly science announcements about Roman.
- Roman Social Media: Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, and X/twitter for the most up-to-date information related to doing science with Roman.
