Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO): Living Worlds Community Working Group: The Search for Life on Potentially Habitable Exoplanets

TL;DR

This paper discusses the potential for discovering extraterrestrial biospheres using advanced observational facilities, emphasizing the importance of the Habitable Worlds Observatory in the search for life on exoplanets.

Contribution

It presents a science case for the Habitable Worlds Observatory, highlighting its role in detecting biospheres on potentially habitable exoplanets.

Findings

Advances in observational technology enable detection of biospheres.

The HWO could transform our understanding of extraterrestrial life.

The paper outlines scientific priorities for the mission.

Abstract

The discovery of a biosphere on another planet would transform how we view ourselves, and our planet Earth, in relation to the rest of the cosmos. We now know Earth is one planet among eight circling our sun; our sun is part of a swirling galaxy of over one hundred billion other suns; and our galaxy is one of untold billions in the universe. While we do not yet know how many, if any, other biospheres exist on the countless worlds orbiting countless other suns, we stand at the precipice of a new era of discovery, enabled by powerful new facilities able to peer across the light years into the atmospheres of planets similar to our own. This article is an adaptation of a science case document (SCDD) developed for the NASA Astrophysics Flagship mission the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) Science, Technology, and Architecture Review Team (START) Living Worlds Community Working Group.