Search for Earth-like planet to rely on private funding

New York

A SCIENTIFIC research consortium on Tuesday announced plans to build and launch a privately financed telescope the size of a small washing machine in hopes of finding an Earth-like planet in the Alpha Centauri system, one of our closest cosmic neighbours.

Jon Morse, the chief executive of the BoldlyGo Institute, one of two non-profits leading the consortium, called it "the holy grail of exoplanet research". If there is a "pale blue dot" - a world covered in oceans - at Alpha Centauri, the telescope would permit scientists to study it in detail, looking for signs of life in the light reflected off the atmosphere.