This page serves as the RDox home for the Roman Research Nexus, a cloud-based science platform that enables the Roman community to access and analyze Roman data products in the cloud. The documentation provides high-level information on Nexus capabilities, access policies, resource allocation, and usage guidelines. Detailed, hands-on documentation—including workflows, tutorials, and data-specific guidance—is provided within the Nexus itself.

Overview of the Roman Research Nexus

The Roman Research Nexus is a cloud-based data analysis environment developed and provided to the community by the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in collaboration with Mission Partners. It brings Roman software, analysis tools, simulation tools, supporting datasets, and scalable compute resources together in a single platform. This same environment will be available to the community during Roman mission operations. 

Starting in mid-December 2025, the Nexus is an in Early Access phase. Users have access to simulated Roman datasets and tools so that they can explore data structures, test and build workflows, and become familiar with the cloud-native analysis patterns that will be used with Roman data. The platform also supports collaborative, team-based work through shared team spaces, consistent software environments, and real-time collaboration servers. 

As capabilities continue to expand, the Nexus will remain the central cloud workspace for the Roman science community throughout Roman mission operations. 

Key Features

The Roman Research Nexus brings together the core elements needed to support Roman science in a cloud environment. Key capabilities include: 

Roman software and tools – The Nexus provides pre-configured environments that include Roman calibration and data processing software, analysis tools, simulation packages, and supporting Python libraries. Users can work with these tools without installing software locally, and all supported workflows are tested against the latest platform image.  

Access to simulated data products – During Early Access, users can interact with a variety of simulated Roman datasets and generate additional simulations using tools available in the environment. These resources allow users to become familiar with Roman data structures and begin developing analysis workflows before Roman on-orbit data become available. 

Integrated computing environment – Sessions run on cloud-based servers with configurable CPU and memory resources. Users can select server sizes that match their workflow needs and scale up as needed. Files stored in user and team directories persist across sessions. 

Team collaboration and shared workspaces – The platform includes shared team spaces that support collaborative analysis and group workflows. Team accounts provide access to common storage areas and shared software environments, enabling groups to work together efficiently. 

Real-time collaborative sessions – Team accounts include access to a Real-Time Collaboration Server, which allows multiple team members to work in the same live session. This feature supports interactive debugging, co-development of workflows, and collaborative notebook editing. 

Science workflows and tutorials – Tutorials are standalone example notebooks focused on specific tasks, tools, or analysis steps. They serve as building blocks that users can run individually. Workflows organize multiple tutorials together with additional documentation to form guided, end-to-end example use cases. Workflows demonstrate how individual components connect into larger scientific tasks, while tutorials remain usable independently. 

Accounts and Credits

The Roman Research Nexus uses a credit system to help manage compute, storage, and egress resources during Early Access. 

Individual Accounts

Any user with a valid MyST account may launch a session under their personal account. Personal accounts are intended for exploratory work: learning the platform, running tutorials and workflows, and developing small-scale analysis ideas. 

Personal accounts include a small pedagogical credit allocation designed to help users become familiar with compute and storage usage in the cloud. Each personal account receives a default allocation of 30 credits, replenished at a rate of 1 credit per day up to the 30-credit maximum. These values are intended to provide users with insights into their resource consumption during Early Access and may be adjusted as the platform evolves. The purpose is not to restrict users, but to help them build intuition for cloud resource use. Credit usage limits in personal accounts are generally not strictly enforced, except in cases of unusually high or clearly inappropriate activity. 

When a session is launched under a personal account, resource use is recorded against the individual’s credit balance. Users can still access all their files, including those belonging to teams they are part of; selecting the personal account affects usage tracking, not file visibility. Storage for individual Nexus accounts is provided via Amazon Elastic File System (EFS), which supports persistent home directories across user sessions.

Personal accounts provide access to smaller compute configurations suited for interactive exploration. Larger workflows should be run under team accounts, which have greater compute capacity. 

Team Accounts

Team accounts support collaborative and project-based work and provide access to larger compute resources than those available in personal accounts. Team accounts are intended for groups working together on shared projects that benefit from common storage, coordinated development, or access to larger compute resources. 

Each team account includes a shared credit allocation. During Early Access, new team accounts receive an initial default allocation of 500 credits, and they may request additional credits up to a ceiling of 2,000 credits. Starting from October 2026, during the first year of operations, the annual credit limit for team accounts is expected to be 4,000 credits. These values help set expectations for typical resource levels but may change as usage patterns and platform capacity evolve. 

Team accounts will be created automatically for all Time Allocation Committee-approved Roman programs by October 2026, with credit allocations up to 4,000 credits, consistent with the first-year operations limit. Proposers are required to include an estimate of the Nexus credits required for their analysis as part of their proposal. This estimate will be used in assessing whether an increased credit allocation is warranted for TAC-approved programs.

All team members have access to a shared team directory, and sessions launched under a team account may use any available server configuration, including those providing higher memory or CPU resources. Storage for team Nexus accounts is provided via shared Amazon Elastic File System (EFS) directories. Private Amazon S3 buckets for team use are under development and are expected to become available by Spring 2026.

When a session is launched under a team account, resource use is recorded against the team’s shared credit balance. Unlike personal accounts, team credits are strictly enforced. Once a team reaches a negative credit balance, compute is disabled until additional credits are allocated. Team files remain accessible through users’ personal accounts, even when a team account is locked. 

Requests for new team accounts and for additional team credits must be submitted using the standardized request forms linked below and submitted through the Roman Helpdesk, using the "Roman Research Nexus" category. All requests are reviewed by STScI to ensure alignment with Roman community activities. The typical review turnaround time is approximately two weeks, though timelines may vary depending on request volume. Online submission forms integrated with the MyST account interface are under development and are expected to become available by Spring 2026.

• Team Request Form
• Credit Request Form

Credit Usage and Resource Management

Credit usage on the Nexus includes contributions from compute time, storage, and egress. Users can monitor their credit activity through the cost-monitor dashboard, which provides a real-time summary of total credits used, a breakdown across compute, storage, and egress, and a record of recent server activity. The dashboard updates automatically as sessions run, although not in real time, and is intended to help users understand how their workflows translate into resource consumption. More documentation on the dashboard is available on the Nexus. 

Compute costs depend on the server configuration selected at launch. Smaller configurations are intended for interactive exploration and development work, while larger ones provide additional memory or CPU resources for more demanding tasks. Approximate values for instance-hours and CPU-hours purchasable with 10 and 1000 credits are shown in the Table of Approximate Compute Capacity; these estimates reflect Early Access contract rates and may evolve over time. 

Storage also contributes to credit usage. Approximate amounts of storage time purchasable with 10 and 1000 credits, expressed in decimal terabytes (TB; 1 TB = 10¹² bytes), are shown in the Table of Approximate Storage Capacity. Note that the underlying AWS storage systems use binary units (TiB; 1 TiB = 2⁴⁰ bytes). The values are intended as guidelines to help users estimate the footprint of their stored data. 

Egress is permitted for all users, although it is generally discouraged because Roman workflows are designed to run within the cloud environment where data and tools are co-located. The current egress cost is 84 credits per terabyte (decimal). For team accounts, any egress required as part of account closeout will be covered by STScI. Egress policies may evolve as the platform approaches operations. 

To use credits effectively, users are encouraged to begin development on a Small server and scale up only when needed. Shutting down inactive sessions helps avoid unnecessary usage. Teams should coordinate work in shared directories to minimize duplication, and all users are encouraged to maintain version-controlled repositories for important work.  

Benchmarking examples illustrating typical credit usage for representative scientific workflows will be included in a future update. 

Using the Roman Research Nexus Environment 

When signing in the Nexus, users proceed through a short sequence of choices that determine how their session is configured. These choices define which account is used for credit tracking, which software environment is loaded, and what server configuration will support the analysis. 

Selecting an Account – Users choose whether to launch under their personal account or a team account. This determines where credit usage is recorded, not which files are visible. 

Selecting a Platform Image – Users choose among platform images that define the available Roman pipelines, analysis tools, simulation utilities, supporting datasets, and the Python environment. The most recent image is recommended. Prior images remain available for convenience but may not be fully supported. Occasionally, special-purpose images are deployed for data challenges, workshops, or mission-related testing. 

Selecting a Server Configuration – Available server sizes range from Small (for exploratory work) to Large configurations that provide additional memory or CPU resources. Large servers are available only under team accounts. Users are encouraged to begin with a Small server and scale up only as needed. 

Collaboration Features – Team directories support shared code, documentation, and workflows. Real-Time Collaboration (RTC) servers allow multiple users to work within the same live JupyterLab session. RTC sessions are not version-controlled; teams should coordinate edits and store important work in a version-controlled repository. 

When first spawned, a server may take up to 15 minutes to launch, although some small servers are kept warm and may start more quickly. The Nexus provides comprehensive documentation on its features, available workflows, tutorials, sample data products, and more.

Support and Future Development

Support for the Nexus focuses on platform functionality, including issues related to logging in, launching servers, and accessing software environments or shared directories. If users encounter problems that require assistance, they may submit a request through the Roman Help Desk, where inquiries are routed to the appropriate support team. STScI personnel can help with platform-related questions, but they do not provide support for optimizing or debugging user code or designing scientific workflows. 

Because the Nexus is in Early Access, capabilities and platform behavior will continue to evolve. Several improvements are already in development, including S3-based storage options for team accounts, bulk upload and download tools, and additional examples illustrating how to run batch and parallelized workflows. These enhancements will support larger data volumes and more complex analyses as Roman approaches operations. 

Scientific functionality will also expand over time. Planned additions include workflow examples for time-domain analysis, guidance for working with WFI thermal-vacuum (TVAC) data, and further materials related to spectroscopy. 

We welcome feedback from the user community on the Nexus. To submit feedback, please contact the Roman Help Desk and select the Roman Research Nexus category.

For additional questions not answered in this article, please contact the Roman Help Desk.