ASTRONOMERS at the city’s Royal Observatory have been awarded £1m to help develop core technologies for a major new NASA mission searching for habitable planets.
The UK Astronomy Technology Centre (UK ATC), based in the observatory, will use the funding to support the planned Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO).
The flagship space mission, which is expected to launch in the 2040s, aims to search for potentially habitable planets beyond our solar system and analyse their atmospheres for chemical biosignatures.
Building on its leading role in developing instruments for the James Webb Space Telescope, the UK ATC will design core technologies alongside STFC RAL Space and a consortium of UK universities.
The Edinburgh team is working on proposals for a multi-object spectrograph capable of obtaining spectra from dozens of astronomical targets simultaneously, as well as developing a high-contrast imager.
The centre is also leading the design of a near-infrared spectrograph for the observatory’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: “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: “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.”
