The LIFE mission: a MIR space interferometer for bio- and technosignature detection

Abstract

LIFE is a project initiated in 2017 and officially kicked-off in 2018 to develop the science, technology and a roadmap for an ambitious space mission that will allow humankind for the first time to detect and characterize the atmospheres of dozens of warm, terrestrial extrasolar planets. We show how LIFE can be used for bio- and technosignature detection in statistically significant numbers that can be used to constrain the factors of the Drake equation such as the fraction of habitable planets on which life actually appears.