There were never-ending speculations and assumptions developed by scientists, astrophysicists or astronomers to seek life beyond our solar system.
While most of them failed to comprehend the existence of life from other planets, space scientists have not given up yet. According to The Guardian, astronomers have decided to launch a daring project that is most likely to capture the first image of an Earth-like planet.
The mission will be privately led and the emphasis is on finding the likelihood of life in other planets. The striving effort led by astronomers will be capturing images by pointing the cameras at Earth's nearest cosmological neighbor in the Alpha Centauri system, which is 4.3 light years away, claims Daily Mail.
The development, titled as Project Blue, aims to capture photographs of Earth-like planets between 0.5 and 1.5 times the size of Earth.
If Project Blue is successful, it could serve as a competitor to the iconic "Pale Blue Dot" photograph captured in 1990 when NASA's Voyager 1 Probe looked the same way at the Earth as it appeared out of the solar system.
Project Blue will be aiming to launch a small telescope, which will be pointed in the direction of the system's three stars, two of which are similar to the sun stars as Alpha Centauri A and B.
If Project Blue is fruitful, it will be the first privately led mission to have gathered a meaningful conclusion by setting eyes upon the alien planets with habitable vicinity.
Astronomers maintain that our closest stellar neighbor may harbor life in a perfect way and can assist in habitation. Based on the perimeters, the surface must be rocky and the temperature must be favorable. These Earth-like conditions can actually be termed as a "habitable zone".
"The past 10 years of exoplanet research has shown us that small planets are very abundant. Now we're trying to determine whether life is common or rare," said Jon Morse, former director of astrophysics at NASA and CEO of BoldyGo Institute, which is co-leading Project Blue.
"We're setting the context for understanding ourselves and our place in the universe."
When Project Blue is launched, the telescope may take two years just looking and analyzing at Alpha Centauri to draw productive conclusions of the possibility of life around either one of the system's stars.
Supriya Chakrabarti, professor of physics at the University of Massachusetts, said the success of the mission rests on at least three crucial technologies.
The first keeps the telescope pointing in the precise direction of Alpha Centauri. The second separates unwanted starlight from the light reflected off any orbiting planets. The third replaces a single telescope mirror with a thousand tiny ones, each adjustable to bring images into focus".
"It's a very challenging measurement, but the challenge makes it exciting," Chakrabarti said.
"For me, finding an Earth-like planet around the closest sun-like star, the first place we could get to, would be phenomenal, "Chakrabarti added.
Project Blue is estimated to set its final construction in 2019. In the same year, it will be launched to low-Earth orbit. While the next two years will incorporate science and mission operations.
