"Searching for Alien Life: The Quest for Extraterrestrial Civilizations"

Scientists and engineers at Caltech are discussing the development of the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO), a proposed space telescope that aims to detect signs of life on exoplanets. The HWO would be the next powerful astrophysics observatory after NASA's James Webb Space Telescope and would have the ability to study stars, galaxies, and exoplanets. The telescope's ability to characterize exoplanet atmospheres and search for biosignatures depends on advanced technologies such as coronagraphs, which block the glare from distant stars. The HWO mission is expected to launch in the late 2030s or early 2040s, and scientists hope to have a catalog of at least 25 Earth-like planets to explore by then.