NASA creates alien-hunting telescope, aims to discover inhabited planet by 2050

The search for extraterrestrial lives has been taken to the next level by space agency NASA which has made an 'alien-hunting' telescope, which will soon be launched and eventually will be able to find at least one inhabited planet by 2050.

The Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) has aimed to search for "wide variety of biosignatures" provided by living organisms after the telescope is launched around 2040.

NASA chief scientist Dr Jessie Christiansen believes that HWO will find "a signal in the atmosphere of a planet in the habitable zone of a star like our sun within our lifetime."

Nearly 25 Earth-like planets, near sun-like stars, have been identified by the scientists who are working on the project as potential candidates.

HWO's telescope is being considered a "Super Hubble" telescope which will directly image Earth-size planets circling other stars.

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The observatory will also have a mirror which will be similar to James Webb as well asultra-precise optics that will help in thoroughly checking the atmospheres of these worlds and finding signs of life.

The exoplanet team of the space agency consists of astronomers, physicists, engineers and scientists who held a meeting last January in New Orleansto check the tools required for the job.

Berkeley astronomer Dr Courtney Dressing, who is a co-leader of HWO's Science Architecture Review Team (START), gave a proposal to provide the HWO, to ensure that it has the capacity of detecting a "wide variety of biosignatures."

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Dr Dressingsaid that the biogenic' gases, which are created by living organisms, along with surface biosignatures, aerosols, airborne pollutants as well as artificial technosignatures "could be detectable with HWO".

"Additional information about the planet and planetary system. It [will be] required to interpret biosignatures and rule out false positives," she said.

NASA's Exoplanet Science Institute at CalTechDr Jessie Christiansen said that HWO can provide proof of extraterrestrial life soon after it is launched in 2040.

"I believe, in our lifetime, something like HWO will see a signal in the atmosphere of a rocky planet in the habitable zone of a star like our sun that we think is life,"said Christiansen, while speaking to theNew Scientist.

(With inputs from agencies)