New Worlds Mission

Video demonstration of the starshade

The New Worlds Mission is a proposed project comprising a large occulter flying in formation with a space telescope designed to block the light of nearby stars in order to observe their orbiting exoplanets. The observations could be taken with an existing space telescope or a dedicated visible light optical telescope optimally designed for the task of finding exoplanets. A preliminary research project was funded from 2005^[1] through 2008 by NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) and headed by Webster Cash of the University of Colorado at Boulder in conjunction with Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Northrop Grumman, Southwest Research Institute and others. Since 2010 the project has been looking for additional financing from NASA and other sources in the amount of roughly US$3 billion including its own four-meter telescope.^[2]^[3] If financed and launched, it would operate for five years.

^ Cite error: The named reference CUfund was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ The New Worlds Observer Archived 2016-11-18 at the Wayback Machine. (PDF) Dr. Webster Cash. University of Colorado, Boulder 2010.
^ New Worlds Technology Development for the New Worlds Observer Archived 2016-03-05 at the Wayback Machine, (PDF) Dr. Webster Cash. University of Colorado, Boulder 2011.

[CUfund-1] Cite error: The named reference CUfund was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[NWO-2] The New Worlds Observer Archived 2016-11-18 at the Wayback Machine. (PDF) Dr. Webster Cash. University of Colorado, Boulder 2010.

[3] New Worlds Technology Development for the New Worlds Observer Archived 2016-03-05 at the Wayback Machine, (PDF) Dr. Webster Cash. University of Colorado, Boulder 2011.

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