Matías S. Zavia
WriterLast summer, NASA opened a new office at the Goddard Space Flight Center dedicated solely to designing the most ambitious telescope in history.
The Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO). With a $17.5 million investment to explore the technologies needed to make it happen, the HWO has been described as a Super Hubble, a next-generation space telescope designed to search for extraterrestrial life on other planets.
And not just planets in our solar system. HWO will focus on detecting biosignatures on Earth-like exoplanets—planets discovered at a habitable distance from their star.
A giant space telescope. One thing is clear: The HWO will be huge. NASA is considering mirrors between 20 and 26 feet in diameter—a massive increase from Hubble’s 7.1 feet and James Webb’s 21.4 feet.
A larger mirror would enhance its ability to capture light and detail from exoplanets. But it would also make deployment far more complex. Like Webb, it will orbit nearly 1 million miles from Earth at the second Lagrange point of gravitational equilibrium.
Starship, it’s your turn. Launching such a large telescope to L2 requires one of the world’s most powerful rockets. Given ongoing rumors about the Space Launch System’s possible cancellation, two options remain:
- New Glenn: Blue Origin’s new rocket features a 23-foot nose cone, much larger than the standard 17.7 feet. If NASA opts for a compact version of the telescope, New Glenn could launch the HWO.
- Starship: The world’s largest and most powerful rocket has a 30-foot payload bay. By the time the HWO is ready, SpaceX will have Starship fully operational, including in-orbit refueling to compensate for the enormous amount of fuel burned during launch.
If the HWO surpasses the size of the James Webb Space Telescope (which NASA launched using the European Ariane 5 rocket), Starship will be the best option for deployment.
What can we expect from HWO? The telescope’s primary instrument will be an ultra-sensitive coronagraph, designed to block starlight and focus on planets’ orbits.
It will also feature high-resolution cameras, an advanced spectroscope, and a fourth instrument yet to be determined. Unlike Webb, which primarily observes in infrared, the HWO will operate in the visible spectrum, with coverage extending into some ultraviolet and infrared bands—making it the spiritual successor to Hubble.
When will it be ready? Optimistic estimates place the launch around 2034. However, given the picometer precision required for its mirrors, the process will likely be slow and complex, pushing the launch closer to 2040.
Lessons from James Webb—whose $10 billion budget and numerous delays challenged NASA—could help reduce cost overruns and schedule slips for this mission. The HWO isn’t a new project but rather a convergence of previous initiatives such as HabEx and LUVOIR, built on decades of experience from past missions.
Image | NASA
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