A European Space Agency project, the Darwin mission should be able to directly observe planets similar to ours and even characterise their atmospheres. Ultimate objective? To detect life elsewhere in the universe.

Are we alone in the universe? A question that is as old as the hills. But since the development of space exploration, scientists hope to find the answer one day: “It is highly likely that our world is not the only planet to harbour life”, explains the astronomer Olivier Absil, from the ULg’s “Extragalactic astrophysics and space observations” group. “The discovery of life elsewhere in the universe would be an achievement, like the culminating point in the Copernican revolution: after having proved that our sun is only one star among others and that our world is only one planet among others, should we be surprised to learn that life on earth is just one example among others? While man has been wondering about extraterrestrial life for centuries, we are lucky enough to live in an era where the technological means allows us to hope for an answer.”

Among these means, the Darwin space mission could be a leading player in coming decades: a constellation of five satellites will be sent to the second Lagrangian point, situated 1.5 million kilometres from earth, in the opposite direction to the sun. These satellites will evolve in formation: the positions of some in relation to the others will be fixed to the nearest centimetre. An ambitious European Space Agency (ESA) project, the Darwin mission should be able to directly observe planets similar to ours and even characterise their atmospheres. Ultimate objective? To detect life elsewhere in the universe.