investigated, but Cordey anticipates Gaia will likely discover thousands of new planets, while further missions will be able to uncover more detail about them. In a recent interview with CNN, George Whitesides, CEO of Virgin Galactic -- the company planning to take tourists into space -- said he thought that within a lifetime it would be possible to detect seasons on far-off worlds. He may have not have too long to wait, as Astrium is already working on design concepts to examine exoplanet atmospheres -- which may provide signs of seasonal variations. We are designing missions that could probably do that very thing -- it's not science fiction, said Cordey.