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MADRID, 13 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
ESA plans to launch a third mission to search for exoplanets in 2029, dedicated to measuring their chemical and thermal structures. connecting them with the environment of their host stars.
This will fill a significant gap in our knowledge of how the planet’s chemistry relates to the environment in which it formed, or whether the type of host star drives the physics and chemistry of the planet’s evolution. reports ESA.
ARIEL (atmospheric infrared large exoplanet detection mission) we moved from the study phase to the implementation phase, after which an industrial contractor will be selected for the construction of the spacecraft.
The mission will focus on hot and hot planets, ranging from super-earths to gas giants that orbit near their parent stars. exploiting its well-mixed atmospheres to decipher its composition in bulk.
Observations of these worlds will give us an idea of the early stages of planetary and atmospheric formation and their subsequent evolution, also helping us to understand how our Solar System fits into the larger picture of the cosmos in general.
ARIEL was selected in 2018 as the fourth middle-class science mission in ESA’s Cosmic Vision plan. It will be ESA’s third exoplanet mission to be launched in a ten-year period.and each mission will address a unique aspect of exoplanet science.
CHEOPS (characterizing ExOPlanet Satellite), launched in December 2019, it is already producing world-class science. PLATO (PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars) will be launched in 2026 to find and study extrasolar planetary systems, with particular emphasis on rocky planets around Sun-like stars in the habitable zone, the distance from a star where liquid water can exist on a planet’s surface.
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