NASA should design and launch a space mission capable of directly imaging rocky planets that orbit stars similar to the Sun. That is the main conclusion of a 203-page report issued on 5 September by a panel of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM). The report outlines two main goals for exoplanet research: a need to identify potentially habitable planets outside the solar system as well as gain a better understanding the formation and evolution of planetary systems.

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