NASA's $4.3 Billion Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Activates 300-Megapixel Camera at L2

NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, an observatory costing $4.3 billion, was launched on August 30, 2026. It has successfully activated its Wide Field Instrument (WFI), a 300-megapixel infrared camera, stationed at the second Lagrange point (L2). The telescope's optics were aligned with the first test image, which captured starlight. Initial checks of the Coronagraph Instrument are complete. Following a 10-day cooldown period at L2, the spacecraft's image sensors were lowered from -85° F to -225° F. The WFI gathered its first test data the next day, marking its inaugural operation in zero gravity. Josh Schlieder, a WFI scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, described the activation as a significant achievement. Scientific operations are anticipated to commence later this year, with initial images expected in December and scientific images in early 2027.