BEIJING, May 21 (Xinhua) — China is funding the conceptual study and is considering funding a feasibility study for a large exoplanet-search space telescope to be operational by 2035, researchers said.
The 6-meter telescope will be called “Tianlin” (or neighbor in the sky in Chinese), and will mainly be dedicated to searching for Earth-like planets, especially terrestrial twins, in the habitable zones around nearby stars, according to researchers from the main laboratory. of Optical Astronomy of the National Astronomical Observatories in Beijing.
The habitable zone is the not-too-hot, not-too-cold regions around a star where liquid water can exist on a planet’s surface.
The “Tianlin” telescope, which has an aperture size of 6 meters, will be launched into the L2 point halo orbit of the Sun and Earth. The L2 point of the Earth-Sun system is ideal for astronomy because the spacecraft will be close enough to communicate with the Earth, and it can keep the sun, Earth and moon behind the spacecraft to obtain solar energy, as well as that point will provide the telescope with a clear view of deep space.
The researchers said the mission’s primary goal is to search for and characterize the atmospheres of nearby exoplanets, especially nearby Earth-like and rocky planets around G and K stars, to explore their habitability, and to search for possible biosignatures in their atmospheres or on their surfaces.
The secondary scientific objective of the mission is to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the various types of planets and planetary systems in terms of their components, how they form and evolve, and what constitutes their atmosphere by conducting an in-depth spectral survey of a sample (more than 100) of nearby rocky and gaseous planets in an accurate and proper manner.
The entire observatory, including the telescope and instruments, will weigh about 15.6 tons. It will be stationed on a spacecraft platform that will be developed in conjunction with the telescope to achieve the high dynamic and thermal stability required by the mission’s objectives.
According to the researchers, the total payload may weigh 40 tons, and it will be launched around 2035 by China’s next-generation “Long March-9” heavy payload rocket.
