The ExoLife Finder Telescope
Our science and engineering teams are developing the ExoLife Finder (ELF), a unique and will be the world’s largest optical instrument designed to map exoplanets and look for life beyond the solar system.
ELF is a new way of building telescopes
ELF is a new way of building telescopes (called Fizeau interferometry), that also uses photonics, and machine learning technologies. Our science and engineering teams are developing this unique and will be the world’s largest optical instrument designed to map exoplanets and look for life beyond the solar system.
ELF will be be capable of detecting biomarkers in the atmospheres of exoplanets and will map exoplanet surfaces with a technique we call exo-cartography to see continents, oceans, and deserts. It will search for the heat signatures of life on nearby exoplanets.
These innovative technologies will be proven with a prototype (called Small-ELF, or SELF) under construction in Tenerife.
ELF addresses two interconnected problems:
The pervasive belief in human exceptionalism
This stems from the fact that many humans tend to hold the toxic notion that some groups are inherently superior or “privileged” within their biological or social ecology.
The limited understanding of our place in the universe
This acknowledges that our understanding of life beyond Earth is severely constrained and likely interconnected to this planet, hindering our ability to comprehend our origins and potential future.
Jeff Kuhn explains why ELF with solve these problems: