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NASA Research Proposes Technology to Seek Earth-Like Exoplanets

Caltech Keck Institute of Space Studies (KISS) team during a March 2026 workshop.

Credits: KISS

Loura Hall

Mar 24, 2026

As NASA seeks to understand the mysteries of the universe, the agency is advancing technologies to locate and explore Earth-like planets far beyond our solar system. A key element of this research involves observing reflected light from exoplanets, which can reveal indicators of Earth-like features such as water and oxygen. However, detecting this faint reflected light with current telescope technology remains a significant challenge due to the overwhelming brightness of nearby stars and other celestial objects.

NASA’s Hybrid Observatory for Earth-like Exoplanets (HOEE) concept presents a potential solution by combining an orbiting starshade with a large ground-based telescope to suppress starlight and enable direct imaging of exoplanets.

John Mather

HOEE principal investigator at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight…