The New Worlds Imager is the proposed final stage of the New Worlds Mission, which calls for the construction of a network of massive large starshades and accompanying telescopes. Space telescopes could better image planets in other solar systems by using precisely designed occulters (starshades), which are many times fainter than the stars they orbit. The first starshade could be placed in front of a telescope that already exists, such as the James Webb Space Telescope.
The NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts funded the New Worlds Imager, which was led by Dr. Webster Cash of the University of Colorado at Boulder, until it was dissolved in 2007.
Exoplanets are so far away and faint that imaging them at all necessitates the use of a starshade. Interferometry, which entails the collection of data from multiple telescopes, is another viable option. The New Worlds Imager, one of the New Worlds Mission’s options, would combine multiple telescopes (interferometry) with the starshade principle. The following missions are possible, in order of complexity and cost:
One or two starshades would be combined with an existing or soon-to-be-launched space telescope to create the New Worlds Discoverer. Its goal, as the name suggests, would be to find exoplanets using optical imaging.
New Worlds Observer – This project would use interferometry to improve angular resolution by combining two space telescopes and two starshades.
New Worlds Imager – this, the most advanced option, would employ five space telescopes and starshades to image exoplanet surfaces in real time. This would allow you to see green splotches on planets dozens or hundreds of light years away, similar to the Amazon rainforest.
The New Worlds Missions are fascinating because they offer the possibility of obtaining optical images of exoplanets in the long run. It’s impossible to predict how the general public will react to recognizable images of distant planets. The New Worlds Imager would most likely detect biospheres on exoplanets in our immediate vicinity if they exist.