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July 28 – 31, 2025

Towards the Habitable Worlds Observatory: Visionary Science and Transformational Technology

We are pleased to announce the inaugural open community conference for NASA’s Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO), to be held at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg Center in Washington, DC, from July 28 – 31, 2025. This milestone event will bring together scientists, engineers, industry, and community stakeholders to propel the development of HWO, a mission poised to usher in a new era of astrophysics discovery and address one of humanity’s oldest questions: Are we alone?

The Habitable Worlds Observatory is the next flagship mission for NASA Astrophysics, designed to directly image and characterize Earth-like exoplanets in the habitable zones of nearby stars. Building on the foundation of the Hubble, Webb, and Roman telescopes, HWO will deploy advanced ultraviolet, optical, and infrared technologies to identify potentially habitable worlds and analyze their atmospheres for signs of life. This same technology will confront fundamental astrophysical questions about cosmology, galaxy evolution, the origins of elements, and our Solar System's place in the universe—questions that have persistently eluded answers due to the limitations of current technology. By overcoming these barriers, HWO will act as a disruptive force, driving a paradigm shift in our understanding of the universe.

Significant progress has been made in the past year, with NASA establishing a dedicated Technology Maturation Project Office at Goddard Space Flight Center, working in close collaboration with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Ames Research Center, and Marshall Space Flight Center. This initiative is advancing critical technologies and science areas while fostering collaboration across government, academia, and industry. Results of HWO working groups will be showcased together with contributions from the global astronomy research community, and the conference proceedings will form a first HWO community science book.

Join us at this first-ever open community conference to learn more, share your insights, and help shape the future of this transformative mission. Additional details about registration and abstract submissions will follow in early 2025. Keep apprised of updates through our mailing list, save the date, and be part of this exciting journey!