Mission concept · Astrophysics Observatories · Under study

Habitable Worlds Observatory

NASA's next flagship space telescope, recommended by the astronomy decadal survey — designed to directly image potentially habitable planets around other stars and search their atmospheres for signs of life.

Astrophysics Observatories NASA

Highlights

›Built to search other Earths for signs of life

Mission goals

›Directly image and search for life on Earth-like exoplanets
›Survey dozens of nearby potentially habitable worlds

Technology

A large ultraviolet/optical/infrared space telescope with a starlight-suppressing coronagraph.

Status & uncertainties

In an early technology-maturation phase; design, cost, and launch date are not yet fixed.

Knowledge connections

Member of groupAstrophysics Observatories
Associated withNASA
Associated withAtmospheric Retrieval

Sources

Facts on this topic will be cited from these primary and reference sources.

NASANational Aeronautics and Space Administration
Mission data, planetary science, space telescopes, and public-domain imagery.
Most NASA-produced imagery is in the public domain; individual items are checked for usage terms before publication.

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