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The search for extraterrestrial life represents one of humanity’s most profound scientific questsone that could fundamentally reshape our understanding of our place in the universe. Yet current telescopes face an almost impossible challenge: separating the faint glow of planets from stars that greatly outshine them. Now, a radical new telescope design solves this problem. Unlike current circular telescopes like the Hubble or the James Webb, this design is a long rectangle, about 66 feet long by 3.3 feet tall. According to a new research study published in Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences, the new design will be able to detect a record number of habitable planets in a record time span, while being easier to implement and less expensive than current and future generation of space telescopes. The author of the study, astronomy professor Heidi Newberg and her team at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY, says its a bizarre shape that goes against centuries of telescope building. But Newberg believes the design will vastly improve the chances of discovering extraterrestrial life. Computer simulations detailed in the team’s research show the rectangular telescope could discover approximately 11 habitable exoplanets around the 15 closest sun-like stars in just one year of operation. Expanding to 46 target stars within 108 light-years, the mission could identify 27 potentially habitable worlds in 3.5 yearsmeeting NASA’s Habitable Worlds Observatory goal at a fraction of the cost and complexity. [Image: Leaf Swordy/Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute] Breaking the circle Newberg’s design abandons the centuries-old assumption that telescopes must be circular. Instead, Newberg’s team proposes a design that delivers the resolution of a massive circular telescope while fitting into existing launch capabilities for spacecrafts. To do so, the concept leverages an optical principle: resolution depends on the longest dimension of a telescope’s primary mirror. The technical specifications are deceptively simple and elegant. This is how it works: Imagine you’re trying to spot a firefly sitting next to a giant searchlight from miles awaythat’s essentially what astronomers face when hunting for planets around other stars. Stars are so blindingly bright that any planets orbiting them get completely washed out. To image the planet alone, the telescope uses a device called an Achromatic Interfero Coronagrapha well-known astronomical device that is basically a sophisticated light-blocking system that works like noise-canceling headphones, but for starlight instead of sound. It splits the incoming light into separate beams, then smashes them back together in a way that the star’s light cancels itself out while the planet’s light survives the process. The beauty is that this technique only needs to dim the star by about a million times (which sounds impossible but is actually pretty manageable with current technology), rather than the billion-times dimming required when looking at regular visible light. This makes planet hunting dramatically easier than previous methods. The proposed telescope would use a segmented beryllium mirrorsimilar to Webb’s successful hexagonal designfolded for launch aboard a Falcon Heavy rocket. And here is where the magic comes in: Unlike circular telescopes that provide uniform resolution in all directions, the rectangular design concentrates its resolving power along a single axis. To find planets at any angle around their stars, the telescope rotates 90 degrees between observations, effectively scanning the sky in two perpendicular orientations. This is done with a sensor that only looks at a specific type of invisible light called infrared (think heat vision) at a wavelength of about 0.0004 inches, which is where planets that could support life naturally glow the brightest from their own heat. The problem of this approach is that you need to keep the telescope in a perfectly still point in space at all times while it rotates. Think of the astronomer like a sniper who needs to hit a target the size of a pinhead from 20 miles awayexcept the target is keeping a space telescope perfectly still while it’s hurtling through space at thousands of miles per hour. The telescope needs to stay pointed in exactly the right direction with mind-boggling precision: if it drifts off course by even 1.25×109 radiansthe width of a human hair viewed from 500 miles awaythe whole observation gets ruined. This is actually four times more precise than the already incredibly steady James Webb Space Telescope, and the reason is simple physicsbecause this new telescope can see finer details along one direction, it’s like having a more powerful zoom lens that amplifies every tiny wobble, so the whole system has to be that much more rock-solid to compensate. It’s a challenge, Newberg says, but it’s doable. The design faces other technical uncertainties around structural stability, thermal control, and vibration management across its 66-foot span. However, these challenges are comparable to those NASA solved for Webb’s segmented mirror system. The space agency has extensive capabilities for “high-fidelity modeling and environmental test (cryovac and vibration)” that would apply directly to the rectangular design. Other engineering challenges, while significant, appear solvable with existing technology too. “I have asked scientists to be more expert in space telescope vibration, flexion, and thermal stability and have gotten responses ranging from ‘might be a problem’ to ‘not a problem.’ No one has seen an obvious reason that this would not work,” Newberg tells me. The race to find life and Earth 2.0 Multiple teams worldwide are pursuing other approaches to overcome the challenge of hunting planets with alien life, each representing billions of dollars in development costs and decades of technological advancement. All of them, however, stick with traditional round mirrors. The LUVOIR (Large UV/Optical/IR Surveyor), for example, proposes two concepts resembling James Webb, with segmented hexagonal mirrors assembled in a circle, one 26 feet in diameter, the other 49 feet. They will be equipped with an ultra-high-contrast coronagraph capable of blocking starlight by ten billion to one. This visible-light approach demands unprecedented precision in optical engineering. HabEx (Habitable Exoplanet Observatory) takes a different path: a 13-foot telescope paired with a massive 171-foot starshade that flies 47,600 miles away to physically block stellar light. Moving this enormous shadow between target stars would require immense fuel expenditure. Another radical approach is the European LIFE mission, which calls fr a swarm of small telescopes flying in perfect formation, always coordinated with each other. But if the position accuracy of Newberg’s design is a challenge, LIFE’s requirements are nuts. They need to maintain positioning accuracy “precisely calibrated to the size of a typical molecule,” as Newberg describes it to me. Its a requirement, she says, that remains “currently infeasible.” Newberg claims that her team’s design avoids all the pitfalls of its rivals. “I would argue that my concept is the ‘conservative’ one for identifying nearby, habitable exoplanets,” she tells me. “Neither the LUVOIR or HabEx proposals were selected in the National Academies Committee for a Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics 2020 because they knew that the technology was not mature enough to develop a reasonable time and cost estimate for these missions” Engineering trade-offs That’s not to say that the design doesn’t have limitations. Its infrared sensor can only see a fraction of the spectrum, the one that serves to locate life, but it will not allow us to see the planet or get additional information about it. “This means that we would need to tune the coronagraph to different wavelengths at different times and take individual exposures to observe different molecules,” Newberg explains. She also told me that the new design will be perfect to quickly detect the alien life candidates for more detailed observations in the future: “These more complex observatories require more time to develop the technology, and would benefit from a curated list of very interesting targets to observe,” she says. One limitation of its rectangular design is that it produces elongated “cigar-shaped” point sources rather than round images. “If the Hubble Space Telescope was rectangular, all of those beautiful images would look smeared out in one direction, so that each of the stars would be cigar-shaped,” Newberg acknowledges. For exoplanet hunting, this limitation proves irrelevantseparating two point sources matters more than image aesthetics. So yes, the planets can be seen as separated from their stars, just not the way you’d see them with your naked eye (although the images will likely be processed into photos that look normal for public use). But as long as the evidence of life is visible, that’s all that matters. Cost and implementation This telescope redesign benefits both science and taxpayers. Newberg says the cost advantages of this design are substantial compared to any other. While still requiring approximately $1 billionmaking it a major space missionthe rectangular telescope would cost significantly less than alternatives demanding new technologies or multiple spacecraft. The simpler design reduces both development risks and operational complexity, potentially accelerating the timeline to first results by decades compared to more ambitious concepts. The rectangular concept could revolutionize high-resolution space astronomy beyond this single mission. The same principle could work at different wavelengthsa 66-foot rectangular mirror observing in visible light could theoretically detect Earth-like planets out to 650 light-years, though with far greater technical challenges. However, the reach of roughly 100 light-years is exactly whats needed for humanitys next dream. Within around 100 light-years of Earth lie the only stars we could realistically explore with robotic probes on human timescales. “The closer the exoplanet is, the more likely we could send a probe to investigate, establish communication with its residents, or possibly one day visit,” she says. Newberg says the telescope could enable a probe that could beam back images of the planet’s surface. “The rectangular telescope could provide a straightforward path towards identifying our sister planet: Earth 2.0, Newberg says.
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Early on in my career, I was focused on being efficient. I wanted to be productive. I wanted to make an impact. And I thought I had mastered the email game in corporate America. Respond quickly; copy in your boss and others so they know what youre doing; hold onto emails for documentation and forward them back when people get confused. You send too many emails, my boss said, exasperated, in one of our performance reviews. From the feedback from your peers, you email a lot. And its overwhelming the teams. Arent we supposed to be emailing each other?” I asked, confused. Youre supposed to be communicating. Not everything needs to be an email. My boss was right. Somewhere along the way, I embraced email, became obsessed with email, and treated email like it was my job to email, rather than realizing that email was simply a tool to help me do my job better. Years later, Im now sure my coworkers used to dread seeing my name in their inboxes. Over time, they likely just glossed over my name, filing it away in a folder they would never open again. So if you suspect your coworkers might be consistently eye-rolling when your email hits their inboxes, here are three ways to course correct this behavior. Skip that email; make time for a conversation Early on in my career, I was anxious about inconveniencing colleagues in person. I didnt want to take up or waste their time. I defaulted to email as my primary form of communicationbut didnt realize that by sending so many emails, I was inconveniencing them (and damaging my reputation as a manager in the workplace). I encourage all of us to pause and ask, Do I really need to send this email? Ive been guilty of wanting to empty my inbox, to just get that response or task or request into someone elses inbox as quickly as possible. If you feel similarly tempted, ask yourself if you can: Wait to update peers at our weekly team meeting? Stop by their desk in the morning for our question? Ask for advice on the project at our Friday lunch? Text or Slack them and see if they can chat for five minutes? Think about whether you can research or answer the question yourself before hitting send? By skipping that email, you are strengthening the way you communicate with your peers. When you can touch base in person, or over video or audio, also make sure you are efficient or brief. Fight the urge to add to the email chain Recently, I opened my inbox to find more than 50 responses to a reply-all chain that had spiraled out of control. I scrolled through the congrats and great news and well deserved and amazing work and on and on waiting for a breakthrough response or something I might need to know. I deleted it after the 20th message. I didnt need to read the rest of the responses. It can be easy to reply all and pile onto the email chain gone wild. So step away from the keyboard. Instead, ask: Why does everyone need to see our response? What value does our response add to the conversation? Who are we trying to prove our value to? What if we just responded directly to that person rather than filling up everyones inbox? Can we convey our message in person or another format? Remember, every email we send is adding to other peoples inboxes, and in turn, we can expect emails back. So if you want to manage the flow of email, send fewer emails. 3. Just wait to hit send Many organizations still rely on email as a primary form of communication. When you do need to send one, make sure its concise and appropriate Ive been guilty of emailing at midnight. I wanted to get through a project, working fast and furiously and firing off emails to get what I needed done. I never stopped to think about how it would make my coworkers feel to see a barrage of messages from me if they happened to be up that late at night. What I was doing wasnt urgent and worthy of midnight emails: I was just selling lots and lots of consumer products. By consistently acting like everything was urgent, when I really did need my coworkers help, it was even harder to get them to respond. Understanding how we can better work with our coworkers starts with how we communicate. Remember to skip that email when you can and have a quick conversation. Dont add reply all to the email madness. And if you must, just wait to send it. Unless its a real life emergency, that late-night note can wait.
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If you have an aging furnace, you might have considered replacing it with a heat pumpthe ultra-efficient technology helps shrink utility bills and can have as much climate benefit as switching from a gas car to an EV. But heat pumps are also typically expensive: whole-home systems can sometimes cost $25,000 to $30,000. Jetson, a startup based in Vancouver, says that it can cut those costs in half to $15,000, or roughly the cost of premium gas furnace. In some areas, after adding in local incentives, the cost can be as low as $5,000. With other heat pumps, youve got this huge green premium out there, says Stephen Lake, Jetson’s founder and CEO. Thats one of the core reasons we started Jetson: to try and make this something that would become an easy yes for the average homeowner. The company launched its own heat pump, the Jetson Air, in September 2025. [Photo: Kevin Arnold/Jetson] Lake, who previously started a smart glasses startup that was acquired by Google, decided to work on heat pumps after looking at the biggest opportunities for decarbonization. “If you just look at the numbers across the U.S., about 15% of end energy use goes to residential heating and cooling,” he says. “It’s one of the biggest single buckets of carbon emissions out there. In many cases, your home is emitting at least as much, if not more, CO2 than the car in the driveway.” The technology isn’t newheat pumps have been in use for decades. (Improvements that made the tech work well in very cold temperatures are newer, rolling out over the last 15 years.) But most homes still rely on fossil-fueled heating, and the upfront cost is the main barrier. To bring down cost, the company started by eliminating markups as much as possible. Most heat pumps are made by a manufacturer, relabeled by a brand, sold to a distributor, and then sold through a contractor to a homeowner, with markups at each point. Jetson works with a manufacturer to make its own heat pumps. [Photo: Jetson] Then the team does its own installation. “We really optimized the install process to be a very efficient process, cutting out any wasted labor,” Lake says. “So we’re not like a typical contractor doing something different every day. We’re installing cold climate central heat pumps, basically the same system, every single day over and over.” The company uses software to virtually plan each project, rather than having to send out a crew to take measurements in person. Then, the startup sends out HVAC technicians, an electrician, and all of the parts needed for the whole installation to happen in a single day. The system is designed not only to reduce costs but also to minimize friction for homeowners. Typically, getting a heat pump is a multistep construction projecta homeowner would have to find HVAC contractors, schedule time for them to come give quotes, and spend time choosing between appliances. “You’re trying to navigate this complex web of rebates and incentives and then a very technical sales process around which model you want,” Lake says. Often, homeowners also need to separately hire an electrician. Jetson’s site can give a quote, and information about available rebates, within a few minutes. The company’s heat pump uses software to continually update itself and to improve performance. To help consumers save more on bills, for example, it can time itself to run when electricity prices are lowest. Right now, the startup only works in a few locations: British Columbia, Colorado, and Massachusetts, with New York launching shortly. Those locations all have the right conditions, Lake says, including consumer awareness of heat pumps, relatively high utility bills for oil or gas heat, and good incentives. In Massachusetts, for example, consumers can save thousands on a new heat pump through rebates. Until the end of 2025, Americans can also use the federal tax credit of up to $2,000. But even without that incentive, the product can make financial sense. Lake says that demand has been strong; after launching the startup last October, it’s on track to install around 1,000 systems by the end of the year.
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