SCIENTISTS will be looking for three major signs that could mean there is extraterrestrial life on a planet in NASA’s alien search project called Habitable Worlds Observatory.
Clues to look for and what current technology could be implemented into HWO were discussed at a workshop held at the California Institute for Technology this week.
The scientists working on HWO have noted it is crucial to prepare for the project on what technology should be used and what they should be looking for
The workshop was reported on by Live Science.
The main goal of HWO also recognized as The Habitable Exoplanet Observatory is to look for signs of alien life and other materials.
“The Habitable Exoplanet Observatory (HabEx) is a concept for a mission to directly image planetary systems around Sun-like stars,” NASA explained of the project.
“HabEx will be sensitive to all types of planets; however, its main goal is, for the first time, to directly image Earth-like exoplanets, and characterize their atmospheric content,” it added.
Dimitri Mawet, a member of a team managed by Caltech for NASA explained it is crucial to prepare for HWO’s use.
“Before we can design the mission, we need to develop the key technologies as much as possible,” Mawet said in a statement.
“We are in a phase of technology maturation. The idea is to further advance the technologies that will enable the Habitable Worlds Observatory to deliver its revolutionary science while minimizing the risks of cost overruns down the line.”
SIGNS OF ALIEN LIFE
They concluded they would need to find oxygen, methane, water vapor, along with some other chemicals.
“We want to probe the atmospheres of these exoplanets to look for oxygen, methane, water vapor, and other chemicals that could signal the presence of life,” NASA’s Exoplanet Exploration Program chief technologist, Nick Siegler, said in a statement.
CLUE WE WON’T SEE
It was also concluded that they will not be looking for what aliens have been depicted to look like.
“We aren’t going to see little green men but rather spectral signatures of these key chemicals, or what we call biosignatures,” Siegler said.
Overall, the workshop helped all researchers get a better understanding of the best ways HWO can possibly detect alien life.
“The workshop helped guide us in figuring out where the gaps are in our technology and where we need to do more development in the coming decade,” Mawet added.