NASA says its next major space telescope could fly sooner than planned.

The agency is now targeting a launch for the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope as early as September 2026. That moves the mission ahead of NASA’s previous commitment to launch no later than May 2027.

“Roman’s accelerated development is a true success story of what we can achieve when public investment, institutional expertise, and private enterprise come together to take on the near-impossible missions that change the world,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said during a news conference at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

The Roman Space Telescope is designed to pair a massive field of view with infrared imaging, so scientists can study huge sections of the universe in detail.

NASA says the mission’s main scientific goals focus on dark energy, dark matter and planets beyond our solar system. Researchers also expect the observatory to support a broad range of other astronomical findings.

By the end of its planned five-year primary mission, Roman is expected to collect about 20,000 terabytes of data.

Scientists plan to use that archive to investigate about 100,000 exoplanets, hundreds of millions of galaxies, billions of stars, and unusual cosmic events that may include objects or phenomena never previously observed.

NASA plans to launch the observatory on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The agency said more details on the exact launch date will be announced later as mission preparations continue.

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center manages the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope mission. The project also includes contributions from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Caltech/IPAC in Southern California, the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, and scientists from multiple research institutions.

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