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Sunday, September 20, 2026 · UTC
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NASA says Roman telescope's fuel could stretch to 22 years of science

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope's first mid-course correction used about 18 kilograms of propellant on August 31, and NASA says the tank may hold enough for 22 years of operations.

Caleb Mbeki
Planetary Science Reporter
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NASA's Roman telescope fuel may last 22 years
NASA's Roman telescope fuel may last 22 years AI illustrationhow this picture was made
The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope used about 18 kilograms (40 pounds) of its 200-kilogram propellant budget in its first mid-course correction on 2026-08-31, executing the manoeuvre with more than 99% accuracy, NASA said in a mission update on 2026-09-14.[2] NASA said on 2026-09-14 that several advantages together could leave Roman with enough propellant for at least 22 years of potential science operations, compared with the 10 years covered by its original fuel plan.[7]
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What this stands on
  1. A study published in Nature Astronomy on 2026-09-19 found that even the largest simulated collisions on icy moons do not fundamentally change whether they can sustain subsurface oceans. · Phys.org
  2. NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope used about 18 kilograms (40 pounds) of its 200-kilogram propellant budget during its first mid-course correction on 2026-08-31, executing the manoeuvre with more than 99 percent accuracy, according to NASA's mission update of 2026-09-14. · Space Daily
  3. The James Webb Space Telescope observations showed that one of Chariklo's rings had grown denser and the other had almost vanished. · arstechnica.com
  4. The James Webb Space Telescope and the Hubble Space Telescope produced a new composite image of Messier 64, also known as the Black Eye Galaxy, combining observations across visible and infrared wavelengths. · The Times Of IndiaIndia
  5. NASA's Hubble Space Telescope photographed spiral galaxy NGC 4698, located 55 million light-years away in the Virgo Cluster, as part of a project studying galaxies in the cluster. · Mashable
  6. Marc Neveu, lead author and astronomy associate research scientist at UMD, said that in larger moons the energy of a collision converts into extra heat that can thicken an existing ocean for a couple of billion years, while in smaller moons the impact disrupts an insulating outer layer, making it harder to maintain an ocean. · Phys.org
  7. NASA said on 2026-09-14 that several advantages together could leave the Roman Space Telescope with enough propellant for at least 22 years of potential science operations, compared with the 10 years covered by its original fuel plan. · Space Daily
  8. In a recent study, Santos-Sanz and his colleagues used the James Webb Space Telescope to observe Chariklo passing in front of a background star again. · arstechnica.com
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