Flower Power: Giant 'Starshades' Prepped for Exoplanet Hunting

"The unique architecture of the starshade — namely, the size and separation needed — make it difficult to test cheaply," Anthony Harness, a graduate student at the University of Colorado, Boulder, told Space.com. Harness works with Tiffany Glassman and Steve Warwick, of the aerospace company Northrop Grumman, to test starshades on Earth in dry lake beds and on mountaintops. Harness presented some of the test results at the Emerging Researchers in Exoplanet Science (ERES) Symposium at