The RGES will address three key science objectives:

  • Microlensing Planets: Completing the census of exoplanet systems in the Milky Way by discovering and characterizing cold planets orbiting beyond their host stars snow line.  
     
  • Transiting Planets: Discovery of up to 100,000 or more transiting exoplanets, increasing the current yield of transiting planets by ~1.5 orders of magnitude.  
     
  • Free-Floating Planets: Discovery and characterization of elusive free-floating planets. Current estimates predict between 200—1,000 free-floating planet detections during the nominal Roman microlensing survey.  
     
  • Compact Objects: Detection and characterization of compact objects (black holes, neutron stars, etc) through measurements of astrometric microlensing. There are expected to be ~100 compact object detections during the nominal Roman GBTDS.