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We propose to search for biosignatures in the spectra of reflected light fromabout 100 Earth-sized planets that are already known to be orbiting in theirhabitable zones (HZ). For a sample of G and K type hosts, most of these planetswill be between 25 and 50 milli-arcsec (mas) from their host star and 1 billionto 10 billion times fainter. To separate the planet's image from that of itshost star at the wavelength (763nm) of the oxygen biosignature we need atelescope with an aperture of 16 metres. Furthermore, the intensity of thelight from the host star at the position in the image of the exoplanet must besuppressed otherwise the exoplanet will be lost in the glare.  This presents huge technical challenges. The Earth's atmosphere is turbulentwhich makes it impossible to achieve the required contrast from the ground at763nm. The telescope therefore needs to be in space and to fit the telescope inthe rocket fairing it must be a factor of 4 or more times smaller when foldedthan when operational. To obtain spectroscopy of the planet's biosignature at763nm we need to use an integral field spectrometer (IFS) with a field of view(FOV) of 1000 x 1000 milli-arcsec (mas) and a spectral resolution of 100. Thisis a device that simultaneously takes many pictures of the exoplanet each at aslightly different wavelength which are then recorded as a data cube with twospatial dimensions and one wavelength dimension. In every data cube wavelengthslice, the background light from the host star at the location of the planetimage must be minimised. This is achieved via a coronagraph which blocks thelight from the host star and active/adaptive optics techniques whichcontinuously maintain very high accuracy optical alignment to make the imagesas sharp as possible. These are the technical challenges to be addressed in adesign study.

SUPERSHARP - Segmented Unfolding Primary for Exoplanet Research via Spectroscopic High Angular Resolution Photography