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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

+techonomics

Project Blue [projectblue.org] aims to send a telescope with a coronagraph into low-Earth orbit to capture direct images of potentially habitable exoplanets orbiting Alpha Centauri [wikipedia.org] A or B. Proxima Centauri [wikipedia.org] is not a target due to the closeness of the red dwarf star and its habitable zone.

The BoldlyGo Institute [boldlygo.org] has launched an Indiegogo campaign [indiegogo.com] to raise $175,000 for initial planning and design. The project's first attempt [geekwire.com] at crowdfunding used Kickstarter [kickstarter.com] to try and raise $1 million, but only $335,597 was raised. They are using flexible funding this time but have reached 70% of their goal with 12 days left [update this]. A donor has also pledged to match contributions dollar-for-dollar until the campaign reaches $175k.

BoldlyGo Institute has signed a Space Act Agreement [nasa.gov] with NASA that will allow NASA employees to assist the Project Blue team [eu.com] during its mission development phases, and also allows Project Blue to test their designs at NASA facilities. More such public-private partnerships [scientificamerican.com] should be expected in the coming years.

Also at Popular Mechanics [popularmechanics.com], Space.com [space.com], and SpaceRef [spaceref.com].

Previously: Scientists Say They Have a $25 Million Plan to Image Alpha Centauri's Planets [soylentnews.org]

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