Project Blue will demonstrate and test coronagraph and wavefront technologies similar to ones that could be used on much larger future space telescopes currently being studied by NASA (e.g., HabEX, LUVOIR), and thus help to retire technical risks and hone the observing techniques and data processing algorithms for those missions. (projectblue.org)
The team plans to use this research to make recommendations about the requirements for future space telescopes designed to search exoplanet atmospheres for signs of alien life. (sciencedaily.com)
Knowing eta - Earth, Batalha says, will allow astronomers to estimate how nearby the closest Earth twins are and thus how large future space telescopes will have to be to image those planets and study them for signs of life. (scientificamerican.com)