Video: How NASA's Star Shade Will Help Us Find Life in the Universe

Getting a good look at planets orbiting other stars is a difficult task, but NASA has developed a solution using the power of origami: the Star Shade. 

The Star Shade is shaped like a large bicycle wheel and is about the size of a baseball diamond once fully opened. But in order for the Star Shade to fit on just the tip of a rocket, NASA researchers developed a complicated folding pattern. 

Once unfurled, the device has its own propulsion system that will take it to the targeted star while a telescope will follow behind. The shade will block the light of the star, allowing the telescope to get a clear image of the planets orbiting around. 

"If we can find planets that have atmospheres and maybe rocky planets like our own Earth, that increases the possibility that life may exist," said Nick Siegler, chief technologist of the NASA exoplanet exploration program

The Star Shade should be ready to fly sometime in the mid-2020s.

To learn more, check out the video below from Wired: