Mission Ready
Starshade is the ultimate tool for bringing new worlds within our reach.
16 m Starshade to work with a small low budget space telescope in a TESS orbit to find ozone, an indicator of oxygen.
Ready for Falcon 9
26 m starshade concept to fly at L2 or in an Earth-trailing heliocentric orbit with 2.4 m telescope.
Ready for heavy launch vehicle
35 m (UV) and 60 m (visible) Starshade as a possibility for a second-generation instrument for NASA’s HWO targeted for launch in the 2040s.
The ultimate Starshades
To plan for your breakthrough discoveries in Exoplanet science and find out more about how Starshade works, fill in the form below.
Find Earth-like Planets : Starshades can find and characterize Earth-sized planets around Sun-like stars. Today’s methods rely on indirect detection, where exoplanets are inferred by their gravitational effects or the dimming of starlight. These methods cannot yet reach down to Earths, but once successful can identify targets for Starshade to study the planet's atmosphere and search for potential biosignatures.
Study ExoEarth Atmospheres: With Starshade, we can both discover exoplanets and study their atmospheres. Starshade is designed to enable spectroscopic analysis to detect water vapor, oxygen, methane, and even ozone molecules that hint at life or specific environmental conditions. Starshade is like upgrading from a flip phone to a smart phone, with unprecedented new capability.
Enhance Imaging for Future Telescopes: Our Starshades are being designed to work with the next generation of space telescopes, including as a possible second-generation instrument for NASA’s Habitable Worlds Observatory. Any telescope can be made “starshade ready” with an acquisition camera, communication system, and science instrument.
High-Impact Science in an Accessible Package: Starshade has heritage from large radio deployables and has undergone extensive hardware development in the last decade. Many mission studies have shown that a starshade can work with a variety of telescopes in a range of orbits, and offers a potentially cost-effective way to amplify the power of high-end space observatories.