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Searching for Life, NASA Advances Technologies for New Space Telescope.

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NASA announced on Friday the selection of three industry proposals to aid in the development of technologies for future large space telescopes. This effort is part of the agency's planning for the Habitable Worlds Observatory mission concept, potentially the first space telescope designed to search for life beyond our solar system.


AeroinSpacetech-Credits:( NASA JPL)
This artist’s concept features one of multiple initial possible design options for NASA's world observatory mission.

Key Highlights:

1. Mission Goal: To directly image Earth-like planets around Sun-like stars and study their atmospheres for life signs.

2. Technology Development: Focus on ultra-stable optical systems and advanced coronagraphs.

3. Industry Collaboration: Involves major industry players like Ball Aerospace, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman, with a combined investment of $17.5 million.


The mission aims to directly image Earth-like planets around Sun-like stars and study their atmospheres for signs of life, while also enabling other investigations about our solar system and the universe. Currently, NASA is in the early planning stages, with community-wide working groups defining the mission's fundamental science goals and strategies. The agency is also setting up a Habitable Worlds Observatory Technology Maturation project office at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.


The Habitable Worlds Observatory will be a historically ambitious mission, so we are taking a deliberate, strategic approach to its development and laying the groundwork now. We will need to bring together diverse expertise from government, academia, and industry, while building on technologies and lessons learned from our previous large space telescopes,” said Mark Clampin, director of the Astrophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “With these awards, we’re excited to engage industry to help close technology gaps to make this groundbreaking mission a reality. Searching for Life, NASA Advances Technologies for New Space Telescope.


"The Habitable Worlds Observatory will be a historically ambitious mission, so we are taking a deliberate, strategic approach to its development and laying the groundwork now." - Mark Clampin, Director of the Astrophysics Division at NASA Headquarters

In January 2024, NASA solicited industry proposals to advance key technologies necessary for the Habitable Worlds Observatory. For instance, the mission requires a coronagraph significantly more advanced than any before and an optical system with unprecedented stability. NASA has now selected three proposals for two-year, fixed-price contracts worth a total of $17.5 million, beginning in late summer 2024:


1. Ultra-stable Telescope Research and Analysis – Critical Technologies (ULTRA-CT)

- Focus: High-fidelity modeling and subsystem demonstrations for ultra-stable optical systems.

- Principal Investigator: Laura Coyle, Ball Aerospace (now BAE Systems)


2. Technology Maturation for Astrophysics Space Telescopes (TechMAST)

- Focus: Advancing integrated modeling infrastructure to navigate design interdependencies.

- Principal Investigator: Alain Carrier, Lockheed Martin


3. STABLE: Systems Technologies for Architecture Baseline

- Focus: Maturing technologies supporting telescope features like deployable baffles and stable structures.

- Principal Investigator: Tiffany Glassman, Northrop Grumman


These new projects will continue the industry's involvement, which began in 2017, under NASA’s “System-Level Segmented Telescope Design” solicitations, and concluded in December 2023. The selected proposals will inform NASA’s planning for the Habitable Worlds Observatory, building on technologies from the James Webb Space Telescope and the upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, while identifying areas for future investment.


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