The facility is an array of small-aperture robotic telescopes outfitted for both photometry and high-resolution Doppler spectroscopy located at the U.S. Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory at Mt.

[1][2][3][4] The project's principal investigator is the American astronomer Jason Eastman.

The primary science goal of MINERVA is to discover Earth-like planets in close-in (less than 50-day) orbits around nearby stars, and super-Earths (3-15 times the mass of Earth) in the habitable zones of the closest Sun-like stars.

The secondary goal is to look for transits (eclipses) of known and newly discovered extrasolar planets.

The unique design of the MINERVA observatory allows the pursuit of both goals simultaneously.