China Plans World's First Habitable Planet Search With Space Telescope
NDTV
The project, if carried out, will be the first space mission specially designed to search for habitable terrestrial planets
Chinese scientists have proposed a space project to survey the sky through a space-borne telescope to hunt for habitable Earth-like planets outside the solar system, about 32 light-years from Earth, the official media reported on Thursday.
The project, named Closeby Habitable Exoplanet Survey (CHES), if carried out, will be the first space mission specially designed to search for habitable terrestrial planets around nearby Sun-like stars, the report said.
The exploration of habitable planets outside the solar system is one of the key frontiers of fundamental research in astronomy.
The CHES will observe about 100 Sun-like stars 32 light-years away on a long-term survey, and will hopefully discover roughly 50 Earth-like planets or super-Earths, planets that are up to about 10 times the mass of Earth, state-run China Global Television Network (CGTN) reported.
