China’s New Telescope Array to Look For Earth-Like Exoplanets! Here’s What to Know About Miyin Project

China's new space telescope array will try to find Earth-like exoplanets.

This new space-based technology is being led by the Chinese Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. The new formation-flying telescopes are under the new Miyin exoplanet project.

This clearly shows that the space interest of the Chinese government in studying planets outside the solar system is further growing.

China's New Space Telescope Array to Find Earth-Like Exoplanets!

According to SpaceNews' latest report, the new Miyin mission will have four light-collecting telescopes.

A beam combiner will work with these space telescopes once they reach the Sun-Earth Lagrange point 2.

The spacecraft connecting the four space telescopes and the beam combiner will use interferometric techniques.

This will allow it to conduct high angular resolution mid-infrared observations; enabling China to directly image and characterize exoplanets around stars that are around 65 light-years away.

Via Global Times, CASC Executive Vice President Zhang Xuhui said that the new Miyin project would open a new era of high-resolution space observations.

Other Details of the Miyin Project

Sara Casewell, a lecturer at the University of Leicester's School of Physics and Astronomy, said that the Miyin project would be of great scientific value.

"The proposed spatial resolution of 0.01 arcseconds is comparable or better than NASA's proposed Habitable Worlds Observatory," she said.

Aside from hunting Earth-like exoplanets, China's Miyin project also aims to observe other space objects.

These include protoplanetary disks, celestial bodies within the solar system, as well as active galactic nuclei.

As of writing, CASC plans to conduct the first Miyin demonstrations in 2024. Their targeted launch date is 2027.

Of course, these dates will still depend on the development efficiency of CASC, meaning there's a chance it would be delayed or happen early.

If you want to learn more about the new formation-flying telescopes in China, you can click this link.

In other news, NASA's super-pressure balloon, which is the size of a football stadium, was successfully launched. We also reported about the new Airbus space station concept called LOOP; it could offer more comfort to astronauts.

For more news updates about space telescopes and other similar innovations, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.