ESO has signed an agreement with the Breakthrough Initiatives to adapt the Very Large Telescope instrumentation in Chile to conduct a search for Earth-like planets in the nearby star system Alpha Centauri. Such planets could be the targets for an eventual launch of miniature space probes by the Breakthrough Starshot initiative. The VORTEX team will provide a new vortex phase mask with enhanced performance to enable this ambitious project.

See full press release on:
– the ESO website
– the Breakthrough website
– the ULg website (in French, with more details on the ULg contribution)