NASA and the U.S. Navy are wrapping up the ninth in a series of tests at sea. They're verifying and validating procedures and hardware that will be used to recover the Orion spacecraft after it splashes down in the Pacific Ocean following deep space exploration missions.

A major new space telescope searching for 'Earth 2.0'—to Succeed Hubble and the soon-to-be-launched James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)—is one step closer to reality.

The Large Ultraviolet Optical Infrared Surveyor (LUVOIR) is a leading mission concept to meet the recommendations of the long-awaited Astro2020 Decadal Survey, which identifies three 'priority scientific areas' for investment in astronomy and astrophysics in the U.S. over the next 10 years and beyond.

Martin Barstow, Professor of Astrophysics and Space Science at the University of Leicester, was appointed by the UK Space Agency as an external observer to the LUVOIR study team, and is co-author of the report backing the proposal. He is also chair of the Space Telescope Institute Council, which provides oversight to the body operates Hubble and will operate JWST.

Professor Barstow says that "Earth-like planets orbiting other stars are enormously difficult to find and detecting them is beyond the capabilities of our current planned space missions, but we are developing the technologies to carry out this search and are close to having the tools ready to fly in space.