Rethinking the shape of space telescopes may be the answer to the seemingly insurmountable challenges facing missions to detect alien life today, according to a recent paper published in Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences.

With the Earth being the only planet currently known to support life, scientists remain hopeful about the prospect of eventually discovering conclusive evidence of extraterrestrials. Yet the long-running question of “where is everybody?” still faces many challenges in the hunt for an answer.

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The new research suggests that altering telescope geometry could solve the problem. Instead of a circular 6.5-meter mirror, the design calls for a rectangular mirror 20 meters wide but only one meter tall. Operating at a wavelength of about 10 microns—similar to JWST—the telescope’s mirror would be oriented so its long axis aligns with the target star and planet.

“We show that this design can, in principle, find half of all existing Earth-like planets orbiting sun-like stars within 30 light-years in less than three years,” said Prof. Newberg. “While our design will need further engineering and optimization, it avoids the steep technological hurdles of other leading concepts.”

If even one Earth-like planet orbits a typical sun-like star, the telescope could identify as many as 30 promising targets for SETI. Follow-up studies might then search for biosignatures, such as evidence of photosynthesis.