The eternal search for extraterrestrial life is not only a reason for cinema, it is also the object of study by NASA, which will precisely include the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) in the scientific-technical group that will define the great space mission of the HWO telescopethe first that has been specifically designed to search for signs of life on planets orbiting other stars.
This is a macro project that involves putting into orbit a telescope even larger than the James Webb (six meters in diameter) and “with extraordinary optical quality in the ultraviolet range,” experts say. Thanks to James Webb, the oldest known black hole, which formed just 400 million years after the Big Bang, was discovered earlier this year.
In search of habitable worlds
Webb (cbuilt and operated by NASA, ESA and the Canadian Space Agency) It was launched at the end of 2021 and, as reported by the European Space Agency (ESA), “it observes the universe in infrared light from almost 1.5 million kilometers from Earth.” This allows us to see details that are helping us answer many questions from the cosmos. However, the birth of the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) has a different task that is easy to understand from its name: obtain the image of a planet similar to Earth (in another star system) where possible. life.
In this task, Spain has achieved a notable role. The researcher Ana Inés Gómez de Castro, director of the Space Astronomy Research Group – AEGORA of the Complutense University of Madrid, has been selected by the European Space Agency, as one of the three representatives in the Science Review Team, the Technology and Architecture (START) of NASA’s Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) Maturation Program.
Electroscopic techniques
What else do we know about this new technology and its significance? The idea is that you identify and image a minimum of 25 potentially habitable worlds. Over the next decade, with an unprecedented effort, the global astronomical community will focus on identifying the best candidates.
To do this, according to the UCM press release, “HWO will use spectroscopic techniques to search for chemical ‘biosignatures’ in the atmospheres of these planets, including gases such as oxygen and methane, which could indicate the presence of life.” Additionally, this incredible telescope will look for evidence of the presence of clouds, oceans and vegetation in the 25 candidates.
Matters of the universe
On the other hand, and following in the wake of Hubble and Webb, HWO is expected to provide key data “to determine the distribution and evolution of large cosmic structures.” It will have “instrumentation to study the chemical evolution of the universe, the generations stellar or the formation of planetary systems with unprecedented sensitivity and resolution.” Ultimately, HWO will be NASA’s next flagship mission.
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