Planet-hunters Pushinq NASA to Double Down on New Technoloaies DEBRA WERNER, SAN FRANCISCO

摘要

Frustrated by a lack of support for the work they deem critical to preparing die next NASA mission to search for Earth-like planets orbiting nearby stars, a group of scientists is drafting a proposal for a new, multistep plan to demonstrate promising technologies.A preliminary draft of die plan, which is scheduled to be delivered in October to die astrophysics subcommittee of the NASA Advisory Council, recommends investing roughly $10 million a year for four years to enable scientists to build, test and demonstrate technologies diat may enable space-based instruments to gadier images of exo-planets and to analyze the chemical composition of their atmospheres in a search for die tell-tale signs of life.