Hipparcos spies a massive planet

Two projects contemplated by ESA should accelerate the search. Gaia will be a star-mapping satellite, a successor to the very successful Hipparcos. Among its many astronomical purposes, Gaia should detect thousands of giant alien planets, and identify stars likely to harbour planets as small as the Earth.

Direct evidence of life among the stars may come from Darwin, an advanced infrared space telescope capable of detecting chemical signatures of life in the atmospheres of alien planets.
 
 
Last update: 12 March 2002