Habitable Exoplanets Observatory
The Habitable Exoplanet Observatory (HabEx) is a space telescope concept that would be optimized to search for and image Earth-size habitable exoplanets in the habitable zones of their stars, where liquid water can exist. HabEx would aim to understand how common terrestrial worlds beyond the Solar System may be and determine the range of their characteristics. It would be an optical, UV and infrared telescope that would also use spectrographs to study planetary atmospheres and eclipse starlight with either an internal coronagraph or an external starshade.
The HabEx Space Observatory along with its starshade | |
| Mission type | Space observatory |
|---|---|
| Operator | NASA |
| Website | www |
| Mission duration | 5 to 10 years (proposed) |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Launch mass | 18,550 kilograms (40,900 lb) (maximum) |
| Dry mass | ≈10,160 kg (22,400 lb) |
| Payload mass | ≈6,080 kg (13,400 lb) (telescope + instruments) |
| Power | 6.9 kW (maximum) |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | 2035 (proposed) |
| Rocket | Observatory: Space Launch System (SLS) Block 1B Starshade: Falcon Heavy |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Regime | Lagrange point (Sun-Earth L2) |
| Main | |
| Diameter | 4 m (13 ft) |
| Wavelengths | Visible; possibly UV, NIR, IR (91 – 1000 nm) |
| Resolution | R ≥ 60,000; SNR ≥ 5 per resolution element on targets of AB ≥ 20 mag (GALEX FUV) in exposure times of ≤12 h |
| Instruments | |
| VIS camera, UV spectrograph, coronagraph, starshade | |
The proposal, first made in 2016, is for a large strategic science missions NASA mission. It would operate at the Lagrange point L2.
In January 2023, a new space telescope concept was proposed called the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO), which draws upon two earlier mission concepts called the Large Ultraviolet Optical Infrared Surveyor (LUVOIR) and the Habitable Exoplanets Observatory (HabEx).