Russia's future space observatory Spektr-M will search for traces of engineering activity by extraterrestrial civilisations, if they ever existed or do exist.
The executive director of Russia’s space corporation Roscosmos for research programs and science, Alexander Bloshenko said:
"On the list of Millimetron’s most remarkable and thrilling tasks will be to probe into the early stages of the evolution of the Universe and the emergence of the first stars and galaxies. It will also research physical processes inside active galactic nuclei (AGN) within the event horizons of supermassive black holes, the cosmological parameters of the Universe. Moreover, it will search for traces of life and even possible astro-engineering activity in the Universe."
The Millimetron space observatory (Spektr-M) is a project of Astro Space Center of Lebedev Physical Institute. This is a space telescope that will be 10-meter long. It will study various objects in the Universe at millimeter and infrared wavelengths between 0.07- 10 mm.
The space observatory has two operational modes: the single-dish and Space-Earth interferometer. The first mode will have the best sensitivity to study the weakest sources of the Universe. On the other hand, the second mode will provide high angular resolution up to 10-8 – 10-9 arcseconds to study the structure of the most compact objects in the Universe – supermassive black holes.
The launch of the probe capable of operating in the millimeter and infrared wave bands to the Lagranian point L2 will take place after 2025. Significantly, scientists and engineers from Italy, China, South Korea, France and Sweden are participating in Russia’s future space observatory project.
