In preparation for the habitable worlds observatory (HWO), supported by the 2020 decadal survey, a list of 164 provisional targets have been released to the community by the NASA exoplanet exploration…

This federal contract award, with ID 80NSSC25K7008, was granted by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Exoplanet Exploration Program (EXEP) to the Regents of the University of Michigan. The $474,707 grant is for research to determine fundamental stellar parameters, such as angular diameters, for a list of 164 provisional targets for the future Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO). This research aims to help select the best targets for the HWO and guide its desired capabilities, as described in the "Precursors to Pathways: Science Enabling NASA Astrophysics Future Great Observatories" report. The contract is not set aside for any specific socioeconomic category. The University of Michigan, a prominent U.S. state government-owned educational institution, has a history of securing diverse federal research grants and contracts across scientific domains, including with agencies like the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, and Department of Defense.

In preparation for the habitable worlds observatory (HWO), supported by the 2020 decadal survey, a list of 164 provisional targets have been released to the community by the NASA exoplanet exploration program (exep). Over the next few years, the scope and technical development of the observatory will be dictated by which STARS are thought to be the best candidates for achieving the goal of detecting habitable worlds. However, much is still unknown about the STARS likely to become the best targets, so the exep mission star list for the habitable worlds observatory (HWO star list) was compiled for the express purpose to motivate observations and analysis...the gaps in knowledge needing to be solved ahead of the next flagship missions have been described in the ``precursors to pathways:.science enabling NASA astrophysics future great observatories'' report from community workshops. GAP /#2 (``precursor.observations of HWO exoplanet imaging targets'') describes the need for better stellar parameters and concerted efforts to.determine multiplicity ahead of target selection. Detailed studies of the STARS will allow for the best targets to be selected, as well as help guide the desired capabilities of HWO. This includes, for example, knowing accurate angular diameters of the STARS to dictate the size of coronagraphs.