Journal article
Atmospheric characterization of terrestrial exoplanets in the mid-infrared: biosignatures, habitability, and diversity
- Abstract:
- Exoplanet science is one of the most thriving fields of modern astrophysics. A major goal is the atmospheric characterization of dozens of small, terrestrial exoplanets in order to search for signatures in their atmospheres that indicate biological activity, assess their ability to provide conditions for life as we know it, and investigate their expected atmospheric diversity. None of the currently adopted projects or missions, from ground or in space, can address these goals. In this White Paper, submitted to ESA in response to the Voyage 2050 Call, we argue that a large space-based mission designed to detect and investigate thermal emission spectra of terrestrial exoplanets in the mid-infrared wavelength range provides unique scientific potential to address these goals and surpasses the capabilities of other approaches. While NASA might be focusing on large missions that aim to detect terrestrial planets in reflected light, ESA has the opportunity to take leadership and spearhead the development of a large mid-infrared exoplanet mission within the scope of the “Voyage 2050” long-term plan establishing Europe at the forefront of exoplanet science for decades to come. Given the ambitious science goals of such a mission, additional international partners might be interested in participating and contributing to a roadmap that, in the long run, leads to a successful implementation. A new, dedicated development program funded by ESA to help reduce development and implementation cost and further push some of the required key technologies would be a first important step in this direction. Ultimately, a large mid-infrared exoplanet imaging mission will be needed to help answer one of humankind’s most fundamental questions: “How unique is our Earth?”
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
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(Preview, Version of record, pdf, 2.9MB, Terms of use)
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- Publisher copy:
- 10.1007/s10686-021-09791-z
Authors
- Publisher:
- Springer Nature
- Journal:
- Experimental Astronomy More from this journal
- Volume:
- 54
- Issue:
- 2-3
- Pages:
- 1197–1221
- Publication date:
- 2021-09-10
- Acceptance date:
- 2021-08-20
- DOI:
- EISSN:
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1572-9508
- ISSN:
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0922-6435
- Language:
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English
- Keywords:
- Pubs id:
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1198652
- Local pid:
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pubs:1198652
- Deposit date:
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2021-10-26
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- Quanz et al.
- Copyright date:
- 2021
- Rights statement:
- ©2021 The Author(s). Open Access. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
- Licence:
- CC Attribution (CC BY)
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