I have a new story published on my Across the Universe blog over at The Guardian.

“The European Space Agency has approved the first of its small science missions. Don't let the description fool you, there is nothing small about the goals of Cheops. It's a step towards finding habitable planets

Cheops stands for CHaracterising ExOPlanets Satellite and although its science goals are written in typically conservative scientific language, this mission aims high. At the end of its 3.5 years of operation, it will have built a list of planets around other stars (exoplanets) that astronomers could subsequently analyse for extraterrestrial life.”

Read the full story here.