RST·DATA

Launch & orbit verification

Provisioning the observatory

A space telescope arrives in orbit as a folded, warm, unfocused instrument. Over the 110 days between liftoff on 30 Aug 2026 and the opening of science operations, it unfolds, cools, aligns itself and proves every mode it will ever use. Most of that time is spent waiting for physics: water has to bake out of the structure, and the detectors have to radiate their way down to 95 kelvin with no refrigerant to help.

Sequence overview

12 activities, launch through first science

Ascent & Separation
Initial Acquisition
Structural Deployments
Trajectory Correction 1
Outgassing & Cooldown
Trajectory Correction 2
L2 Orbit Insertion
Telescope Alignment & Focus
Wide Field Instrument Checkout
Coronagraph Technology Demo
First Light & Early Release
Science Operations
30 Aug 202629 Sept 202629 Oct 202628 Nov 202628 Dec 2026

Every activity, in order

  1. Ascent & Separation

    Launch Vehicle · L+0d → L+1h

    scheduled

    Falcon Heavy lofts the observatory onto a trans-L2 injection trajectory. Separation occurs roughly 40 minutes after liftoff.

    • Fairing separation
    • Second-stage cutoff
    • Observatory separation
    • Initial tip-off rates damped

    30 Aug 2026 → 30 Aug 2026

  2. Initial Acquisition

    Spacecraft Bus · L+1h → L+1d

    scheduled

    Solar array deploys and the observatory establishes a power-positive, thermally safe attitude. First contact through the Deep Space Network confirms a healthy bus.

    • Solar array deployed and latched
    • Sun-pointed safe attitude
    • First DSN acquisition of signal
    • Bus telemetry nominal

    30 Aug 2026 → 31 Aug 2026

  3. Structural Deployments

    Mechanisms · L+1d → L+5d

    scheduled

    The high-gain antenna, the deployable aperture cover and the solar-array sunshade move to their flight configurations. Each release is commanded and verified individually.

    • High-gain antenna deployed
    • Deployable aperture cover open
    • Sunshade fully extended
    • Mechanism telemetry within limits

    31 Aug 2026 → 04 Sept 2026

  4. Trajectory Correction 1

    Flight Dynamics · L+2d → L+3d

    scheduled

    The first and largest correction burn removes launch-vehicle injection error. It must fire early — a trans-L2 trajectory is deliberately biased short so it can never be aimed at the observatory's own sunshade.

    • Burn attitude achieved
    • TCM-1 executed
    • Post-burn orbit determination

    31 Aug 2026 → 01 Sept 2026

  5. Outgassing & Cooldown

    Thermal · L+2d → L+45d

    scheduled

    Trapped water and volatiles bake off the optics while passive radiators pull the Wide Field Instrument's detectors toward their 95 K operating point. This is the long pole of commissioning and cannot be rushed.

    • Decontamination heaters cycled
    • Optical bench below 200 K
    • WFI focal plane at 95 K
    • Detector dark current within spec

    01 Sept 2026 → 14 Oct 2026

  6. Trajectory Correction 2

    Flight Dynamics · L+18d → L+20d

    scheduled

    A small mid-course cleanup burn refines the approach so that the insertion maneuver at L2 stays inside its propellant budget.

    • TCM-2 executed
    • Approach corridor confirmed

    17 Sept 2026 → 19 Sept 2026

  7. L2 Orbit Insertion

    Flight Dynamics · L+30d → L+31d

    scheduled

    A modest burn at the edge of the Earth–Sun L2 region captures the observatory into a wide halo orbit roughly 1.5 million km from Earth. The halo is unstable by design, so it is maintained with small station-keeping burns every few weeks.

    • Insertion burn executed
    • Halo orbit confirmed by ranging
    • Station-keeping cadence established

    29 Sept 2026 → 30 Sept 2026

  8. Telescope Alignment & Focus

    Optical Telescope Assembly · L+45d → L+72d

    scheduled

    Wavefront sensing on a star field drives the secondary mirror actuators until the point-spread function converges on its diffraction-limited shape across the full 0.28 square-degree field.

    • First photons on the focal plane
    • Coarse focus sweep
    • Wavefront error below 90 nm RMS
    • Field-dependent aberrations mapped

    14 Oct 2026 → 10 Nov 2026

  9. Wide Field Instrument Checkout

    WFI · L+60d → L+100d

    scheduled

    All eighteen H4RG detectors are exercised through every element of the filter wheel. Flat fields, darks, gain and linearity are measured to build the first flight calibration reference files.

    • All 18 SCAs reading out
    • Filter wheel full sweep
    • Photometric zero points established
    • Grism and prism dispersion solved

    29 Oct 2026 → 08 Dec 2026

  10. Coronagraph Technology Demo

    CGI · L+75d → L+105d

    scheduled

    The Coronagraph Instrument's deformable mirrors run their dark-hole digging algorithm, suppressing starlight to demonstrate the contrast future missions will need to image Earth-like planets.

    • Deformable mirrors responsive
    • Dark hole convergence
    • Contrast floor measured

    13 Nov 2026 → 13 Dec 2026

  11. First Light & Early Release

    Science Operations · L+100d → L+110d

    scheduled

    The first science-grade images are taken, processed and released publicly — the observatory's formal introduction.

    • First-light exposure
    • Pipeline end-to-end run
    • Early Release Observations published

    08 Dec 2026 → 18 Dec 2026

  12. Science Operations

    Science Operations · L+110d → L+1825d

    scheduled

    The Core Community Surveys begin. Data flows to the archive continuously and becomes public immediately — there is no proprietary period on Roman survey data.

    • High Latitude Wide Area Survey underway
    • Galactic Bulge Time Domain Survey underway
    • High Latitude Time Domain Survey underway

    18 Dec 2026 → 29 Aug 2031