Astronomers To NASA: Please, Build This Telescope!
"When the National Academies release their recommendations in just a few weeks, the great hope of astronomers is that at least three of these missions will be chosen to move forward, with LUVOIR, the most powerful and ambitious space-based observatory ever proposed, as the top choice. If we want definitive answers to the biggest questions of all, it takes a big effort and a substantial investment. Considering that the reward is learning that “there’s life on that planet, orbiting another star, right over there,” it’s clear that LUVOIR is the one telescope we must all join together to build."
Seriously, there are dozens, if not hundreds, of potentially habitable Earth-like planets around nearby Sun-like stars. Is there life on them? If we choose to build this next-generation observatory, LUVOIR, we'll know. We won't guess, or speculate, but instead we'll actually know.
NASA, please, build this telescope, and show us whether there's actually life out there on other planets in the nearby Universe!
