NASA is embarking on an ambitious program to develop the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) flagship to perform transformational astrophysics, as well as directly image ∼ 25 potentially Earth-like planets and spectroscopically characterize them for signs of life. This mission was recommended by Astro2020, which additionally recommended a new approach for flagship formulation based on increasing the scope and depth of early, pre-phase A trades and technology maturation.
