新世界任务（New Worlds Mission）是一个由美国国家航空暨太空总署先进理念研究所（NIAC）资助的项目，由科罗拉多大学博尔德分校的韦伯斯特·凯希（Webster Cash）博士领导，并联合波尔太空与技术公司、诺斯洛普·格鲁门公司、西南研究院和其他组织进行研究。这个项目计划在太空中建造一个遮星板来阻挡附近恒星的星光，以观察环绕它们运转的行星。这个计划有可能与一架现有的太空望远镜搭配工作，或许是将要发射的詹姆斯·韦伯太空望远镜，也可能与一架经过优化的、专门使用可见光来观察系外行星的望远镜搭配工作。

The New Worlds Mission is a proposed project comprising a large occulter in space designed to block the light of nearby stars in order to observe their orbiting exoplanets. The observations could be taken with an existing space telescope, possibly the James Webb Space Telescope when it launches, or a dedicated visible light optical telescope optimally designed for the task of finding exoplanets. A preliminary research project was funded from 2005 through 2008 by NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) and headed by Webster Cash of the University of Colorado at Boulder in conjunction with Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Northrop Grumman, Southwest Research Institute and others. Since 2010 the project has been looking for additional financing from NASA and other sources in the amount of roughly US$3 billion including its own 4-meter telescope, or $750 million for one starshade to be used with the James Webb Space Telescope. If financed and launched, it would last 5 years.