Looking for life on other planets

Researchers at CU Boulder’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) are helping design NASA’s Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO)—the first space telescope built specifically to detect and characterize Earth‑like, potentially inhabited planets. 

Kevin France, professor of astrophysical and planetary sciences, sits on both the HWO Technology and Science Organizing Committee and the Community Science and Instrument Team, where he is helping define mission objectives, instrument concepts and requirements. France and LASP astrophysicist Brian Fleming previously developed LUMOS, a next‑generation ultraviolet spectrograph whose capabilities directly influenced HWO’s planned instrument suite. 

LASP continues to advance HWO‑critical technologies through ultraviolet sounding rockets and CubeSat missions, including CUTE, SPRITE and MANTIS. With decades of UV‑ and dust detector-instrument heritage, LASP remains a driving force behind NASA’s search for life beyond Earth. The HWO is expected to launch in the late 2030s or early 2040s.