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September 7th, 2018
Credit: NAS
To answer significant questions about planetary systems, such as whether our solar system is a rare phenomenon or if life exists on planets other than Earth, NASA should lead a large direct imaging mission – an advanced space telescope – capable of studying Earth-like exoplanets orbiting stars similar to the sun, says a new congressionally mandated report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
Starshade concept.
Credit: NASA/JPL/Caltech
Starshade
The new report — Exoplanet Science Strategy – has made a number of findings and recommendations.
One of those recommendations is using instruments that enable direct imaging of an exoplanet by blocking the light emitted by the parent stars – such as a coronagraph or starshade.
The shade would be positioned between a telescope and a target star system. The shade is used to block the light coming from the star in order to enable the detection of light from an exoplanet.
Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST).
Credit: NASA/GSFC
WFIRST support
Another recommendation is that NASA should launch the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) mission and to demonstrate the technique of coronagraphic spectroscopy on exoplanet targets.
The study was sponsored by NASA.
To download a free PDF of the report, go to:
https://www.nap.edu/catalog/25187/exoplanet-science-strategy
A highlights document can be read here:
https://www.nap.edu/resource/25187/RH-exoplanets.pdf
Also, take a view of this video that details the report:
Posted in Space News
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