A proposed Chinese mission intends to search for nearby potentially habitable space worlds by launching a spacecraft to make ultra-precise measurements.
These measurements are aimed at studying how orbiting planets affect the oscillation of stars. In this task, called a close survey of habitable exoplanets, scientists use a method called relativistic astrometry to the exact arcsecond.
This technology involves taking ultra-precise measurements of the positions and motions of stars once morest a set of background stars to detect star disturbances caused by the gravitational effect of exoplanets as they orbit their stars.
This method provides estimates of the masses of exoplanets and the distance they orbit around their stars, which in turn may reveal whether these exoplanets have the potential to host life.
The European Space Agency’s “Gaya” space telescope uses the same method to create a 3D map of a billion stars in the Milky Way, but the Chinese mission will be more focused, as it targets 100 Sun-like stars at a distance of 33 light years from Earth and will be able to detect Earth-like planets. In the habitable zones around those stars.
“Searching for habitable worlds around nearby sun-like stars will be a great breakthrough for humanity and will help humans visit Earth’s alignment and expand our living space in the future,” said Ji Jiangui, a research professor at the Purple Mountain Observatory at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the lead researcher on the mission.
More than 5,000 exoplanets have been discovered, including 50 Earth-like in the habitable zone, but most of them are hundreds of light-years away from Earth.
Elizabeth Tasker, associate professor at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, said the Chinese mission “would be a great addition to the exploration of exoplanets. While the potential number of targets is small, measuring planet masses for worlds orbiting our neighboring stars would be a valuable addition to our existing data and a step toward identifying worlds.” habitable.”
China has made space exploration a top priority in recent years in a bid to catch up with Russia and the United States and become a major space power by 2030.
Beijing aims to complete a multi-unit and manned space station by 2022. Last September, 3 Chinese astronauts returned to Earth following spending a record 3-month period in space, and these astronauts were the first residents of the Chinese space station that is under construction.