New Delhi: Can life exist in the stellar systems nearest to Earth? A new project, led by scientists from the University of Sydney, and supported by the Breakthrough Initiatives, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Saber Astronautics, is looking to find an answer to this question.


The aim of the project is to discover new planets around Earth's nearest neighbour, Alpha Centauri, which could have conditions suitable to sustain life, as part of a proposed telescope project. Alpha Centauri is a gravitationally bound system of stars and exoplanets closest to our Solar System, and is 4.37 light years away from the Sun. 


The team of scientists will search for planets in the "Goldilocks Zone" around Alpha Centauri, where temperatures will allow cooling of liquids on the surface of rocky planets, according to a statement by the University of Sydney.


An area around a star, which is neither too hot nor too cold for liquid water to exist on the surface of surrounding planets, is known as a "Habitable Zone" or a "Goldilocks Zone".


TOLIMAN Project: Searching For Life In Goldilocks Zone Around Alpha Centauri


The proposed telescope project has been dubbed TOLIMAN, which is the Arabic-derived name for Alpha Centauri from ancient times. Work on the project started in April this year, according to the University of Sydney statement.


TOLIMAN stands for Telescope for Orbit Locus Interferometric Monitoring of our Astronomical Neighbourhood, indicating the new approach to nearby exoplanet exploration and discovery.


TOLIMAN is a new type of telescope that uses a diffractive pupil lens. This is a lens which will provide the telescope's large aperture. A separate, much smaller, space telescope will serve as the mobile eyepiece.


The starlight captured from nearby stars will be spread into a complex flower-like pattern by the telescope's mirrors. This unique pattern will make it easier to detect disturbances in movement of stars, which indicate signs of orbiting planets.


Dr Pete Worden, Executive Director of the Breakthrough Initiatives, said that Earth's nearest stellar neighbours are turning out to be extraordinarily interesting, mentions the statement. He added that the TOLIMAN mission will be a huge step towards finding out whether planets capable of supporting life exist in Earth's nearest stellar neighbours.


Why Have The Scientists Chosen Earth's Nearest Stellar Neighbours?


Project leader Professor Tuthill from the University of Sydney said astronomers hardly know anything about Earth's own celestial backyard despite having access to amazing technologies. Explaining the importance of knowing Earth's planetary neighbours, he said that next-door planets are the regions where scientists have the best chances to find and analyse atmospheres, surface chemistry, and fingerprints of a biosphere, which are the tentative signals of life.


Alpha Centauri is a triple star system (three stars apparently in close proximity) located in the constellation Centaurus, with two stars which are very similar to the Sun. Red dwarf Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to the Sun at a distance of around 4.2 light years, is the third star of the Alpha Centauri system. The European Space Observatory, in 2016, announced the discovery of Proxima b, a planet orbiting Proxima Centauri in a Goldilocks orbit. 


 



Hubble's shot of Proxima Centauri, the closest star to the Solar System | Photo: NASA


The Breakthrough Initiatives, which are a suite of scientific and technological programs engaged in the search for extraterrestrial life, is supporting the TOLIMAN project, the statement said.


Pete Klupar, Chief Engineer of Breakthrough Watch, said that the nearby planets are the regions where humanity will take the first steps to interstellar space using high-speed, futuristic robotic probes.


Saber Astronautics, which operates in Australia and the United States, will provide a number of services such as spaceflight mission operations support, including satellite communications and command, space traffic management, and a range of other flight services to download data from the satellite. 


Dr Jason Held, CEO of Saber Astronautics, said TOLIMAN is a mission that Australia should be proud of because it is an "exciting, bleeding-edge" space telescope supplied by exceptional international collaboration, according to the statement.


TOLIMAN To Make Precise Measurements


Quoting Dr Eduardo Bendek from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the statement said finding planets is a huge technological challenge even for the very nearest bright stars, and that the TOLIMAN mission will launch a custom-designed space telescope which makes extremely fine measurements of the star's position in the sky. 


Most exoplanets have been discovered using space telescopes such as NASA's Kepler and Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) missions. The TOLIMAN mission will use more finely tuned instruments to find exoplanets close to home.


Professor Tuthill said the TOLIMAN project is a low-cost mission that is expected to deliver results by about the middle of the decade.