Produced by: Manoj Kumar
The search for extraterrestrial life takes a leap with NASA’s upcoming Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO), designed to answer humanity’s age-old question: Are we alone in the universe?
Credit : NASA
HWO will feature cutting-edge instruments, including a coronagraph to detect Earth-like planets. A prototype is set to launch aboard the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope in 2026.
Credit : NASA
Envisioned to measure up to 26 feet wide, HWO dwarfs the Hubble Space Telescope and requires next-gen rockets like SpaceX’s Starship for deployment and potential servicing.
SpaceX’s Starship, the world’s tallest rocket, is a candidate to launch HWO. Its payload bay could also allow in-space servicing, mirroring past Hubble missions.
HWO aims to catalog 25 Earth-like exoplanets, searching for biosignatures such as oxygen, methane, or ozone—key indicators of life on other worlds.
Credit : NASA
Dr. Giada Arney from NASA calls this mission “a discovery with implications that would ripple through future millennia,” underscoring its profound significance.
Credit : NASA
If HWO detects no biosignatures, it will set an upper limit on the frequency of life in the cosmos, reshaping how humanity views its place in the universe.
Credit : NASA
The Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics 2020 deemed HWO a top priority, influencing NASA’s scientific direction for the coming decades.
Credit : NASA
Blue Origin’s New Glenn and SpaceX’s Starship are being evaluated to launch the observatory. Both face challenges in accommodating the massive telescope.
Credit : NASA
NASA plans to launch HWO between 2030 and 2040, aiming to unlock the secrets of life across the galaxy and transform humanity’s understanding of the cosmos.
Credit : NASA