BAE Systems to work on NASA’s Habitable Worlds Observatory mission 

BROOMFIELD — BAE Systems Inc. Space & Mission Systems, the Broomfield-based subsidiary of British defense contractor BAE Systems PLC, and several partners have been selected to participate in the NASA’s Habitable Worlds Observatory mission, which, according to a company news release, is a telescope project that “will be designed to seek out signs of life beyond our solar system and conduct transformational observations of the universe.”

The HWO mission’s “goal is to identify and examine a promising sample of Earth-like planets orbiting other stars to determine if they could show signs of hosting life,” BAE said. “The observatory would also provide a powerful lens to explore the stars, the planets of our solar system, galaxies, and the evolution of the universe with unprecedented sensitivity and resolution.”

BAE established a presence in the Boulder Valley in February with its $5.5 billion acquisition of Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp.

The company, along with partners L3Harris Technologies and the Space Telescope Science Institute, “will conduct a two-year research effort called the Ultra-stable Large Telescope Research and Analysis Program – Critical Technologies,” the release said. “The program is meant to close gaps in the performance of large space telescopes through the advancement of ultra-stable optical systems.”