China plans world’s first search for nearby habitable planet with space telescope

Chinese scientists have proposed a space project to probe the skies through a space telescope to search for habitable Earth-like planets outside the solar system, about 32 light-years from Earth, state media reported Thursday.

The project, named Closeby Habitable Exoplanet Survey (CHES), if carried out, will be the first space mission specifically designed to search for habitable terrestrial planets around stars near the Sun, according to the report.

The exploration of habitable planets outside the solar system is one of the main frontiers of fundamental research in astronomy.

CHES will observe about 100 Sun-like stars 32 light-years away in a long-term survey and will hopefully discover about 50 Earth-like planets or super-Earths, planets that represent up to about 10 times the mass of the Earth, run by the state Chinese Global Television Network (CGTN) reported.

The CHES will offer crucial clues to questions such as “Are we alone in the universe?” and “How can planets become the cradle of life?” according to Ji Jianghui, a research professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Purple Mountain Observatory, who is the principal investigator of the CHES mission.

Ji said more than 5,000 exoplanets have been discovered and confirmed so far, including about 50 Earth-like planets in the habitable zone, but most of them are hundreds of light-years away. Earth.

“Discovering the nearby habitable worlds will be a great breakthrough for mankind, and will also help humans to visit these Earth twins and expand our living space in the future,” Ji added.

• Chinese scientists have proposed a space project to probe the skies through a space telescope to search for habitable Earth-like planets outside the solar system, about 32 light-years from Earth, state media reported Thursday.

• The exploration of habitable planets outside the solar system is one of the main frontiers of fundamental research in astronomy.

• “Discovering the nearby habitable worlds will be a great breakthrough for mankind, and will also help humans to visit these Earth twins and expand our living space in the future,” Ji added.