The Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF) is a proposed project by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the United States for a telescope system which is intended to detect extrasolar terrestrial planets.
In May 2002, NASA chose two TPF mission architecture concepts for further study and technology development. Each would use a different means to achieve the same goal—to block the light from a parent star in order to see its much smalle...
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The Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF) is a proposed project by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the United States for a telescope system which is intended to detect extrasolar terrestrial planets.
In May 2002, NASA chose two TPF mission architecture concepts for further study and technology development. Each would use a different means to achieve the same goal—to block the light from a parent star in order to see its much smaller, dimmer planets. That technology challenge has been likened to finding a firefly near the beam of a distant searchlight. Additional goals of the mission would include characterizing the surfaces and atmospheres of newfound planets, and looking for the chemical signatures of life. In May 2004, both architectures were approved. Congressional spending limits under House Resolution 20 passed on January 31, 2007, by the United States House of Representatives and February 14 by the U.S. Senate have postponed the program indefinitely.
The two...
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