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<\/a><\/figure>NASA announced Friday it selected three industry proposals to help develop technologies for future large space telescopes and plan for the agency\u2019s Habitable Worlds Observatory mission concept, which could be the first space telescope designed to search for life outside our solar system.<\/p>\n
The mission would directly image Earth-like planets around stars like our Sun and study their atmospheres for the chemical signatures of life, as well as enable other investigations about our solar system and universe. NASA is currently in the early planning stages for this mission concept, with community-wide working groups exploring its fundamental science goals and how best to pursue them. The agency is also in the process of establishing a Habitable Worlds Observatory Technology Maturation project office at NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 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,\u201d said Mark Clampin, director of the Astrophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. \u201cWith these awards, we\u2019re excited to engage industry to help close technology gaps to make this groundbreaking mission a reality.\u201d<\/p>\n
In January 2024, NASA solicited industry proposals<\/a> to help advance key technologies that will eventually be necessary for the Habitable Worlds Observatory. For example, the mission will require a coronagraph \u2013 an instrument that blocks the light of a star so we can better see nearby objects \u2013 thousands of times more capable than any prior space coronagraph, and a stable optical system moving no more than the width of an atom during its observations.<\/p>\n To help further the readiness of these technologies, NASA has now selected the following proposals for two-year, fixed-price contracts with a combined value of $17.5 million, targeted to begin by late summer 2024:<\/p>\n This work will continue industry involvement started in 2017 under NASA\u2019s \u201cSystem-Level Segmented Telescope Design<\/a>\u201d solicitations, which concluded in December 2023. The new selected proposals will help inform NASA\u2019s approach to planning for the Habitable Worlds Observatory, as the agency builds on technologies from its James Webb Space Telescope and future Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope and identifies where future investments are needed.<\/p>\n To learn more about NASA\u2019s Habitable Worlds Observatory visit:<\/p>\n https:\/\/go.nasa.gov\/HWO<\/a><\/p>\n -end-<\/p>\n Alise Fisher\n
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Headquarters, Washington
202-358-2546
alise.m.fisher@nasa.gov<\/a><\/p>\nShare<\/h2>\n<\/p><\/div>\n