In a 163-page report titled ‘From Cosmic Birth to Living Earth’, the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) has explained its vision for the largest telescope ever created. If it gets built, then the High-Definition Space Telescope (HDST) would be five times as large as Hubble.

The report headed by scientists from MIT and the University of Washington has also set targets for American astronomy in the coming years. The HDST would be around 100 times more powerful allowing it to observe the atmosphere of planets orbiting distant suns.

The project is subject to the approval of NASA and has been funded by Congress. The New York Times said that the project would cost $10 billion. The report makers said, “life is almost certainly out there somewhere beyond the surface of the Earth.... The proposed telescope will be able to detect signatures of life on planets outside our own Solar System, and begin to address the issue of whether life is ubiquitous”.

If the proposal gets approved then the new telescope would be launched in the 2030s. The project will take time as it will take time for approval, funding and construction. Scientists heading the HDST will have to wait till the time other projects are going on.

However, then also scientists want to move ahead in this mission. Many experts think that the proposed telescope can help know whether or not we are alone in the universe.