"Spend the money on telescopes necessary to image [and take spectra of] exoplanets." HabEx is a mission in the planning stage for precisely this purpose: http:

"Spend the money on telescopes necessary to image [and take spectra of] exoplanets." HabEx is a mission in the planning stage for precisely this purpose: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/habex/ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/habex/. It's one of the four upcoming candidates for a post-JWST flagship space telescope.