Scott Nicholas
NASA and the BoldlyGo Institute have entered into a Space Act Agreement to build and deploy a purpose-built space telescope to determine potentially habitable planets in the Alpha Centauri system.
BoldlyGo said Tuesday the public-private collaboration seeks to open up opportunities for NASA personnel and staff members of the Project Blue mission to review mission designs and exchange information from latest technology tests.
The institute aims to construct and launch the telescope in three to four years.
The Project Blue team will conduct a two-year study on Alpha Centauri and provide on-orbit raw data to the agency through a publicly accessible online archive.
Jon Morse, BoldlyGo CEO, said the mission will use coronagraph imaging technology developed through NASA-funded programs to collect images of exoplanets.
Morse added the space agency will offer scientific and technical expertise throughout the mission life cycle.
