Projects

Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF) is a suite of two complementary observatories that will study all aspects of planets outside our solar system: from their formation and development in disks of dust and gas around newly forming stars to the presence and features of those planets orbiting the nearest stars; from the numbers at various sizes and places to their suitability as an abode for life.

By combining the high sensitivity of space telescopes with revolutionary imaging technologies, the TPF observatories will measure the size, temperature, and placement of planets as small as the Earth in the habitable zones of distant solar systems.

In addition, TPF's spectroscopy will allow atmospheric chemists and biologists to use the relative amounts of gases like carbon dioxide, water vapor, ozone and methane to find whether a planet someday could or even now does support life.