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The European Space Agency (ESA) has formally adopted Ariel, the first mission dedicated to the study of the nature, formation and evolution of exoplanets.
More than 50 institutes from 17 countries, including the University of Oxford, have worked over the past five years to develop the scientific objectives and design the instrumentation that will allow Ariel to examine a diverse sample of some 1,000 planets outside our solar system. .
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Professor Neil Bowles, from the Department of Physics, said: “The Oxford team has been involved in the Ariel mission since it was originally proposed in 2014 and it is fantastic to see it progress to the adoption of the mission. Our team is working on close contact with our colleagues from RAL Space and the University of Lisbon, Portugal, to develop the optical ground test equipment, which allows the Ariel instrument to be characterized in space conditions here on Earth before being integrated into the rest of the spacecraft and launched. ‘
It is extremely exciting that Ariel has been adopted by ESA. I’ve been working on the science case for this mission since I was a college student and now as a DPhil final year student it feels like a full circle moment.
Jake Taylor, a DPhil student at Oxford University’s Department of Physics, said: “It is extremely exciting that Ariel has been adopted by ESA. I’ve been working on the science case for this mission since I was a college student and now as a DPhil final year student it feels like a moment of full circle. This telescope will revolutionize the study of the atmospheres of exoplanets and I am honored to have been involved in the development phases.
‘The scientific case involves developing the questions we want to answer and how we can use the tool to answer them. One way we did this was to perform various studies to determine what information we can extract from the range of observations we will be able to get from the tool. “
Ariel has passed major feasibility reviews and has been formally adopted in the program of future implementation missions. It will examine approximately 1000 planets outside our solar system during its life cycle and uncover the nature, formation and evolution of a large and assorted sample of planets around different types of stars in our galaxy.
Ariel will be the first mission dedicated to measuring the chemical composition and atmospheric thermal properties of hundreds of transiting exoplanets.
The mission has gone through a rigorous series of reviews it has undergone throughout 2020 to demonstrate technical feasibility and scientific case, and has now received approval from ESA member states, confirming that the team can work towards a launch in 2029.
British institutions have provided leadership and planning for Ariel, including University College London, the RAL space of the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), the Department of Technology and the UK Astronomy Technology Center, l ‘University of Cardiff and the University of Oxford. The UK contributions are funded by the UK Space Agency.
Ariel will be the first mission dedicated to measuring the chemical composition and atmospheric thermal properties of hundreds of transiting exoplanets. Ariel will give us a picture of a wide range of exoplanets: from extremely hot to temperate ones, from gaseous to rocky ones orbiting close to their parent stars.
By looking specifically at hot planets, scientists expect to build an understanding of planet formation and evolution. At higher temperatures, which in some cases can exceed 2000 ° C, Ariel will be visible to a greater number of exotic molecules. The instruments will then be able to determine what atmospheres are composed of and provide scientists with a unique insight into the internal composition of the planet and the formation history of the planetary system.
Ariel’s team is taking a very open approach by providing quick access to data and even encouraging enthusiasts to help select targets and characterize stars. Most of the data will be immediately available to both the scientific community and the general public.
The instruments will be able to determine what atmospheres are made of and provide scientists with a unique insight into the internal composition of the planet and the formation history of the planetary system.
Ariel will have a meter-class telescope primary mirror to collect visible and infrared light from distant star systems. An infrared spectrometer will scatter the light in a “rainbow” and extract the chemical fingerprints of the gases in the atmospheres of the planets, which are incorporated into the starlight when a planet passes in front of or behind the star. A photometer, a spectrometer and a guidance system will capture information on the presence of clouds in the atmospheres of exoplanets and allow the probe to point to the target star with high stability and accuracy.
Ariel mission consortium teams across Europe will now move on to build and prototype their Ariel payload designs and schedule data reception and processing. The industrial contractor for the spacecraft bus, which will support the payload from the nationally funded consortium teams, will be selected in summer 2021.
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