New Worlds Mission

The project plans to build a large occulter in space designed to block the light of nearby stars in order to observe their orbiting planets.

The Starshade is a very large coronagraph, in the form of a dedicated spacecraft, that is designed to fly in front of a space telescope. This is a light-blocking shield whose purpose is to block light of a distant star, to make it easier to observe planets orbiting that distant star. If the spacecraft passes NASA standards, the starshade could be sent to space as early as 2013. The new starshade would be located approximately 238,600 miles away from Earth and outside its orbit. The unfurled starshade could provide a light reduction from bright stars by as much as a factor of 10 billion. The light that “leaks” around the edges would be used by the telescope as it scans the target system for planets. With the reduction of the harsh light, astronomers will be able to search much farther in space than they would with no light blocking, as well as be able to analyze the chemical atmosphere of planets that are tens of trillions of miles away for the possibility of life.