UK ATC secures £1 million UK Space Agency funding for Habitable Worlds Observatory
04 Aug 2026
Investment strengthens UK role in NASA-led mission to search for signs of life beyond our Solar System.
Edinburgh’s UK Astronomy Technology Centre (UK ATC) has secured £1 million from the UK Space Agency to support the UK’s contribution to NASA’s planned Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO).
The flagship space mission will search for potentially habitable planets beyond our Solar System and analyse their atmospheres for signs of life. It will also provide a suite of scientific instruments that will support all areas of astrophysics.
Building on its leading role on the James Webb Space Telescope’s Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI), UK ATC will help develop technologies and instrument concepts for HWO alongside STFC RAL Space and a consortium of UK universities.
UK ATC is working on proposals for a multi-object spectrograph capable of obtaining spectra of dozens of astronomical targets simultaneously and developing a high-contrast imager with low-resolution spectroscopic capability spanning wavelengths from the ultraviolet to the near-infrared.
UK ATC is also leading the design of a near-infrared spectrograph for HWO’s coronagraphic imaging system in close collaboration with the University of Edinburgh. The instrument would help astronomers directly study the atmospheres of exoplanets by analysing the faint light reflected from them.
Professor Christophe Dumas, Director of the UK Astronomy Technology Centre, said: “The Habitable Worlds Observatory represents one of the most exciting scientific endeavours of the coming decades. This funding from the UK Space Agency enables UK ATC, and our partners across the UK, to help develop technologies that will help answer one of humanity’s oldest questions: are we alone in the Universe?
“This investment strengthens the UK’s role in a mission that has the potential to transform our understanding of other worlds while creating new opportunities for innovation and collaboration across the UK space sector.”
Dr Caroline Harper, Head of Space Science at the UK Space Agency, said: “This UK Space Agency funding is a significant step forward in securing the UK’s place at the heart of one of the most ambitious space science missions ever conceived.
“Habitable Worlds Observatory is being designed to answer whether we are alone in the universe and will require technological advances as well as scientific breakthroughs. That’s why we’re backing UK scientists and engineers to lead one of its core instruments.”
HWO is expected to launch in the 2040s.
