A new telescope that is currently being prototyped could aid space research agencies throughout the world in their quest to determine if extraterrestrial life exists.
The powerful Advanced Technology Large Aperture Space Telescope (ATLAST), which scientists in both the US and Europe are rooting for, is said to be 2,000 times more powerful than the Hubble Space Telescope.
Scientists working on ATLAST state that the 'extremely powerful telescope' allows engineers and astronauts monitor and study different planets and solar systems located many light years away from the earth, some even as far as 30 light years.
The ATLAST concept, which is the brainchild of the Space Telescope Space Institute (STSCI), will have a huge mirror that will allow it to function even in the infrared spectrum regions, apart from operating in the ultraviolet spectrum region.
The development of ATLAST could speed up thanks to Martin Barstow, Professor of Astrophysics and Space Science at Leicester University and President-elect of Royal Astronomical Society (RAS), who has said space organisations and governments across the globe should support the ATLAST project.
Scientists are expecting that space research agencies such as Nasa will actively back the ATLAST project both financially and logistically.
