Habitable Worlds Observatory Would Directly Image Earth-Like Planets
Tech Proposals to Advance Search-for-Life Mission Selected by NASA
The selection of multiple industry proposals to advance technologies for the agency’s Habitable Worlds Observatory concept – the first mission that would directly image Earth-like planets around stars like our Sun and study the chemical composition of their atmospheres for signs of life – have been announced by NASA.
“Humanity is waiting for the breakthroughs this mission is capable of achieving and the questions it could help us answer about life in the universe.”
Jarad Isaacman, NASA
This flagship space telescope also would enable wide-ranging studies of our universe and support future human exploration of Mars, our solar system, and beyond.
“The Habitable Worlds Observatory is exactly the kind of bold, forward-leaning science that only NASA can undertake,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. “Humanity is waiting for the breakthroughs this mission is capable of achieving and the questions it could help us answer about life in the universe. We intend to move with urgency, and expedite timelines to the greatest extent possible to bring these discoveries to the world.”
To achieve its science goals, the Habitable Worlds Observatory would need a stable optical system that moves no more than the width of an atom while it conducts observations. The mission also would require a coronagraph – an instrument that blocks the light of a star to better see its orbiting planets – thousands of times more capable than any space coronagraph ever built. The Habitable Worlds Observatory would be designed to allow servicing in space, to extend its lifetime and bolster its science over time.
To further the readiness of these technologies, NASA has selected proposals for three-year, fixed-price contracts from the following companies:
Astroscale U.S. Inc., Denver
BAE Systems Space and Mission Systems, Inc., Boulder, Colorado
Busek Co. Inc, Natick, Massachusetts
L3Harris Technologies Inc., Rochester, New York
Lockheed Martin Inc., Palo Alto, California
Northrop Grumman Inc., Redondo Beach, California
Zecoat Co. Inc., Granite City, Illinois
“‘Are we alone in the universe?’ is an audacious question to answer, but one that our nation is poised to pursue, leveraging the groundwork we’ve laid from previous NASA flagship missions. With the Habitable Worlds Observatory, NASA will chart new frontiers for humanity’s exploration of the cosmos,” said Shawn Domagal-Goldman, director of the Astrophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Awards like these are a critical component of our incubator program for future missions, which combines government leadership with commercial innovation to make what is impossible today rapidly implementable in the future.”
The newly selected proposals build on previous industry involvement, which began in 2017 under NASA’s “System-Level Segmented Telescope Design” solicitations and continued with awards for large space telescope technologies in 2024. The newly selected proposals will help inform NASA’s approach to planning for the Habitable Worlds Observatory concept, as the agency builds on technologies and lessons learned from its Hubble Space Telescope, James Webb Space Telescope, and upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope.
The atomic-scale stability requirement cuts through the noise. Most coverage fixates on finding biosignatures, but the engineering challenge of holding optics steady to fractions of a nanometer over months-long observations is what actually determines feasibility. That constraint ripples through everything from vibration isolation to thermal managment. I worked on a ground-based interferometry project where even single-digit nanometer drift destroyed coherence, so seeing this mission tackle it in the space environment feels like watching someone attempt surgery with power tools.