With the POT working more and more on deep space exploration, there are already plans for the launch of its next telescope: the HWO, Habitable Worlds Observatory u Observatory of Habitable Worlds.
This gigantic device whose value is estimated at 11 billion dollars, It will be as big as the James Webb Telescope, and it should be able to detect signs of life. on 25 Earth-like exoplanets.
According to the plans, its release should occur in the 2040s, located 1.5 million kilometers from Earth, at a point called L2.
However, NASA is faced with a problem that was perhaps not as acute as James Webb’s: the foundership. For 2023, the NASA budget was reduced by 4% compared to 2022, with inflation and the war in Ukraine as the great ghosts around it.
That is why the US government and NASA have stimulated private initiative in recent years, such as SpaceX, a company owned by Elon Musk.
This is NASA’s HWO, the telescope that will be used to search for habitable worlds
The announcement about the HWO was made during the 241st meeting of the American Astronomical Society, held in Seattle.
But what are the salient features of the NASA HWO?
The Habitable Worlds Observatory It is a 6-meter telescope, sensitive to ultraviolet, optical, and near-infrared wavelengths. will be based on the segmented mirror of the Webb Telescope, as well as in the chronograph of the Roman Space Telescope.
Still it is unknown how is your design.
In the future, the HWO you will be able to benefit from robotic upgrades, in accordance with Mark Clampin, director of the astrophysics division of NASA.
“In 10 or 15 years there will be many companies that can do a very simple robotic service in L2,” says Clampin, quoted by Space. “It gives us flexibility, because it means that we don’t necessarily have to achieve all the scientific objectives the first time.”
It will also rely on the commercial sector for the launch vehicle, in order to reduce costs.
