A Living Worlds Working Group white paper (preprint on arXiv) argues NASA’s Habitable Worlds Observatory must deliver extremely high signal-to-noise ratios and tightly specified instrumentation and systems to satisfy the Decadal Survey’s exoplanet-imaging objectives; the paper maps the trade-offs driving early mission design and cost.
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Briefing
The paper establishes a high technical bar—calling for extremely high SNR and tightly specified instruments and systems—which will directly shape mission architecture decisions, schedule risk and cost estimates.
Its requirements reinforce the need to mature enabling technologies and starlight-suppression work, linking directly to NASA’s recent industry awards to advance HWO instruments and technologies (source:3d64645f-9c09-434b-9d9c-5f8b9a336647).
Released as an arXiv preprint, the analysis will drive community trade-offs and procurement priorities as concept work transitions toward implementation, and complements recent high-sensitivity science advances from JWST that underline the payoff for such capability (source:4a9af50b-0467-40fb-a874-0b760adcc4e3).
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Universe Today
• Andy Tomaswick