A new massive space telescope to find the next Earth
American astronomers are demanding the development of a new suite of grandiose space telescopes that can look into the atmospheres of the planets beyond our Solar System, listen to the black holes that sound as they form in the Universe, and look back in time when galaxies first appeared. It's all part of an ambitious long-term strategy to create the next generation of tools to study the farthest reaches of space, with the hope of launching these spacecraft in the 2030s and 2040s. Astronomers set out their vision for the future in a report known as the Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics, published today by the National Academies of Science. Compiled every ten years, the survey is essentially a wish list detailing the missions with the highest priority that astronomers would like NASA to build in the next decade. Decades of past studies have led to the formation of some of NASA's most ambitious missions, such as the Hubble Space Telescope, which is currently orbiting...