Project Blue: Scientists Aim to Build Space Telescope to Find Earth's 'Twins'

© Flickr / Jonathan FieldsEarth
Earth - Sputnik International
Subscribe
Project Blue, a consortium of leading space and research organizations, is trying to raise a million dollars to build and launch a high-powered space telescope, which would be able to observe Earth-like exoplanets and receive their first photos.

This project isn't a traditional space mission. The instrument the scientists aim to create could become the first private space telescope equipped with a set of highly sensitive cameras, which are capable of receiving pictures of from stars in our neighborhood.

An artist's concept of the planet HAT-P-7b - Sputnik International
It's Raining Rubies: Scientists Find Planet Where Gemstones Fall From the Sky
The initiative was launched by the former head of NASA's astrophysics division John Morse in summer 2016. The main goal of the Project Blue team is to capture a direct image of an Earth-like planet outside our solar system, in our nearest stellar neighbors: Alpha Centauri A and B (now also known as Rigil Kentaurus).

According to the researchers, finding the first Earth-like planet beyond our solar system would transform the understanding of our place in the universe.

In November, Morse and his associates launched a fundraising campaign on the Kickstarter platform in an attempt to collect one million US dollars needed to lay the groundwork for the mission through preliminary analysis, design, and simulations. To date, they have received over 207 thousand dollars. The project will only be funded if it reaches its goal by December 21.

While the Project Blue team is concerned with finding another Earth, the organizers of the World Pie Eating Championship sent a pie into the sky, literally. The oven baked dish was launched into space on December 15 from a pub car park in Wigan, UK, near to where the pie eating championships will be held on December 20. The pie was attached to a weather balloon, which took it 30 miles up into the stratosphere.

The project is, however, scientifically motivated — the organizers were interested in seeing what the pie would come back like. After its fantastic journey, the pie was sent to a lab where its molecular structure will be tested, and then maybe eaten by a brave researcher.

Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала