Revealing 'secret weapon' to hunt NASA's new planet

NASA has unveiled a new secret weapon they hope will help people see distant planets covered by other suns in the mysterious light.

A special device called "starshade" (ie "shadow of the star" , which looks like a giant star-shaped shield or Maya sun shield) has just been introduced by NASA. According to engineers, it is a tool to hunt for new extrasolar planets.

Simulation of NASA's new planetary support tool - (photo: NASA)

As many previous studies show that the search for planets of other "Solar Systems" is greatly hampered by distant mother stars that often cover their planets in the mysterious and dazzling light of the planet. it radiates, especially planets near it.

Planetary groups located near stars, often obscured, may be hot planets like Venus, Mercury, but potentially large planets that belong to "life zones" like Earth. .

NASA's massive star-shaped shield will be placed outside the space so that its position is properly covered by the mother star, creating a shadow like a winged flower, enough for space telescopes to be less glare. and then see the planets once in the mysterious light.

Of course, the project will not be realized sooner or later, because it is not simple to bring it to space and coordinate it with space telescopes. According to engineer Michael bottom from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the biggest challenge is the shield that needs to fly at a distance of more than 40,000km in front of a telescope.

According to Phil Willems, NASA's Starshade Development Technology project manager, they plan to study for this star-shaped shield and future space telescope to be launched simultaneously on a ship. cylinder, then split apart when out in space. The shield will be taken farther enough to block the vision between the telescope and the target star.