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View all search resultsRI space agency to kick off search for exoplanets next year
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I
ndonesia will soon join a group of global nations actively involved in search of planets that orbit a star or stars outside the solar system.
Indonesia’s National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (Lapan) has pledged to begin searching for exoplanets and life beyond the solar system in 2021.
“The media uses the term ‘search for extraterrestrial life’, but the technical term is habitable exoplanets,” Lapan head Thomas Djamaluddin told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
The project to search for exoplanets – planets orbiting distant stars – will begin for the first time in Indonesia following the construction of the National Observatory on Mount Timau in Kupang regency, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT).
Touted to be Southeast Asia's largest observatory, the facility started construction in 2017 under the partnership of Lapan, the Bandung Institute of Technology, the University of Nusa Cendana in Kupang and the regional administration.
Construction is expected to be completed in 2021.
“At first, [construction] was expected to finish by 2020, but it was postponed until 2021 due to several issues, including road access and the COVID-19 pandemic,” Thomas said.
