UK Astronomy Technology Centre researchers, engineers and scientists are part of two UK-led teams that could design and build one of the core instruments on a flagship NASA mission, the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO), which will search for signs of life on distant planets.

The mission is expected to launch in the early 2040s and is currently in an early preparatory phase.

Two consortia funded by the UK Space Agency (UKSA), are developing proposals for a multi-object spectrograph (MOS) and a high-resolution imager (HRI) that could be designed and built by a UK-led team. A consortium led by the University of Leicester includes concepts for the MOS and HRI instruments. A second consortium focuses on the HRI concept and is led by University College London (UCL) with scientists and engineers from the University of Durham, the University of Portsmouth, RAL Space​ and the UK ATC.

The HRI instrument would support studies in galaxy evolution, stellar astrophysics, and solar system science, and would also contribute to determining exoplanet masses by precisely tracking the subtle positional shifts of host stars caused by orbiting planets.

Dr Vincent Van Eylen, Mullard Space Science Laboratory at UCL and lead for one of the two HRI consortia, said: “The planets we have discovered so far are not places that could realistically have life. That is because our current techniques are good at finding planets that are very hot, orbiting close to their host star – inhospitable places that are nothing like Earth.

“[In addition to the HRI and MOS instruments] the Habitable Worlds Observatory would use an instrument called a coronagraph to block the bright glare of a host star. This would allow us, for the first time, to see distant planets directly, including small, rocky planets that are similar to Earth. Using the coronagraph, we can then directly study which molecules may be present in their atmospheres, such as water, oxygen, or methane, and infer whether the planet has life."

Professor Christophe Dumas, Director at UK ATC, said: “The UK ATC is proud to be part of these two teams exploring how we can contribute to the Habitable Worlds Observatory. Building on our experience with missions like the James Webb Space Telescope, we're excited by the possibility of helping to develop the tools that could one day detect signs of life on other worlds."

Find out more about HWO.