Detecting life outside our solar system with a large high-contrast-imaging mission
Ignas Snellen (Universiteit Leiden)
F Snik (Universiteit Leiden)
M Kenworthy (Universiteit Leiden)
C.U. Keller (Universiteit Leiden)
Eric De Mooij (Queen's University Belfast)
S. Albrecht (Aarhus University)
O Krause (Max-Planck-Institute for Radio Astronomy)
L. Kreidberg (Max-Planck-Institute for Radio Astronomy)
D.M. Stam (Astrodynamics & Space Missions)
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Abstract
In this White Paper, which was submitted in response to the European Space Agency (ESA) Voyage 2050 Call, we recommend the ESA plays a proactive role in developing a global collaborative effort to construct a large high-contrast imaging space telescope, e.g. as currently under study by NASA. Such a mission will be needed to characterize a sizable sample of temperate Earth-like planets in the habitable zones of nearby Sun-like stars and to search for extraterrestrial biological activity. We provide an overview of relevant European expertise, and advocate ESA to start a technology development program towards detecting life outside the Solar System. © 2021, The Author(s).
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