Proposed 900-telescope array could detect an Earth-like exoplanet's atmosphere in a single transit

A proposed 900-telescope array, called Life 2.0, aims to detect an Earth-like exoplanet's atmosphere in a single transit. The array would use 900 1-meter telescopes, each equipped with a spectrograph and low-noise detector, to observe the transit of a potentially habitable planet. The telescopes would be distributed and calibrated individually before combining their data. The project is designed to overcome the challenge of detecting faint signals from Earth-like planets, which require a 30-meter telescope. The array would avoid the need to build a custom, slow-build mirror, instead using identical, mass-produced components. The work is published on the arXiv preprint server.

• The array would stack data from 900 telescopes, each contributing a spectrum of the planet's atmosphere during a transit.
• The telescopes would be located in space, with each carrying a waveguide spectrograph that has already achieved 40% to 66% throughput.
• The project is seen as a scalable solution to the challenge of detecting biosignatures in exoplanet atmospheres.

The proposal is part of broader efforts to find candidate worlds, such as those targeted by PLATO and China's Earth 2.0 missions. The work is backed by astronomers from Shanghai Astronomical Observatory and collaborators in China and Spain. The project highlights the need for advanced instrumentation to detect faint signals from distant planets.

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