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China plans to discover the first “second Earth”, the first Earth-like planet orbiting a star similar to the sun, using a modern-generation space observatory that should be launched at the end of 2026.
The mission named “Earth 2.0”, led by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, will use the first telescope designed to assess the frequency of appearance of human-like worlds in the Milky Way, as well as the distance it takes to orbit its sun-like star.
The mission aims to find “a possible Earth twin orbiting stars like the Sun” and “discover thousands of exoplanets within a wide range of orbital times, across space and between stars,” according to the detailed 115-page document published by the “Archiv” website for the archive of scientific materials. .
The interest China is paying to its new project is part of a larger international effort to discover potentially habitable worlds. Once identified, these worlds can be studied more closely to find signs of life with other telescopes and provide the beginnings of an answer to the eternal question: Are we alone in the universe?