[astro-ph.IM] The Habitable Worlds Observatory is the first telescope ever designed to search for life and will be a powerhouse of discovery across topics in astrophysics.
The observatory was the top recommendation of the Astro2020 Decadal Survey for large missions and a new HWO Technology Maturation Project Office was formed in August 2024 to mature the architecture, science and technology.
In this paper we review the overall approach taken to mature the mission concept. We show progress on architecture development, integrated modeling, science cases, and technology roadmaps consistent with pre-formulation studies.
We discuss plans for instrument studies and international engagement and science engagement including a Community Science and Instrument Team. Finally, we describe the plan forward to the Mission Concept Review.
Lee D. Feinberg, Breann N. Sitarski, Michael W. McElwain, Giada Arney, Caleb Baker, Matthew D. Bolcar, Marie Levine, Alice Liu, Bertrand Mennesson, Aki Roberge, J. Scott Smith, Feng Zhao, John Ziemer
Subjects: Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM)
Cite as: arXiv:2601.11803 [astro-ph.IM] (or arXiv:2601.11803v1 [astro-ph.IM] for this version)
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2601.11803
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Submission history
From: Breann Sitarski
[v1] Fri, 16 Jan 2026 22:06:47 UTC (13,605 KB)
[v2] Wed, 21 Jan 2026 16:31:25 UTC (13,605 KB)
[v3] Tue, 27 Jan 2026 17:08:56 UTC (16,760 KB)
[v4] Mon, 2 Feb 2026 04:28:29 UTC (16,758 KB)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.11803
Habitable Worlds Observatory’s Concept and Technology Maturation: Initial Feasibility and Trade Space Exploration (31 July 2026)
Astrobiology, Astronomy, Exoplanet,
