ARIEL: an ESA M4 mission candidate

L. Puig; G. L. Pilbratt; A. Heske; I. Escudero Sanz; P.-E. Crouzet

doi:10.1117/12.2230964

29 July 2016 ARIEL: an ESA M4 mission candidate

L. Puig, G. L. Pilbratt, A. Heske, I. Escudero Sanz, P.-E. Crouzet

Proceedings Volume 9904, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2016: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Wave; 99041W (2016) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2230964
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2016, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Abstract

The Atmospheric Remote sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large survey (ARIEL) mission is an M-class mission candidate within the science program Cosmic Vision of the European Space Agency (ESA). It was selected in June 2015 as one of three candidates to enter an assessment phase (phase 0/A). This process involves the definition of science and mission requirements as well as a preliminary model payload, and an internal Concurrent Design Facility (CDF) study providing the input to parallel industrial studies (in progress since 2016). After this process, the three candidates will be reviewed and in mid-2017 one of them will be selected as the M4 mission for launch in 2026. ARIEL is a survey-type mission dedicated to the characterisation of exoplanetary atmospheres. Using the differential technique of transit spectroscopy, ARIEL will obtain transmission and/or emission spectra of the atmospheres of a large and diverse sample of known exoplanets (~500) covering a wide range of masses, densities, equilibrium temperatures, orbital properties and host-star characteristics. This will include hot Jupiters to warm Super-Earths, orbiting M5 to F0 stars. This paper describes critical requirements, and reports on the results of the Concurrent Design Facility (CDF) study that was conducted in June / July 2015, providing a description of the resulting spacecraft design. It will employ a 0.7 m x 1.1 m off-axis three mirror telescope, feeding four photometric channels in the VNIR range (0.5-1.95 μm) and an IR spectrometer covering 1.95-7.8 μm.

Citation Download Citation

L. Puig, G. L. Pilbratt, A. Heske, I. Escudero Sanz, and P.-E. Crouzet "ARIEL: an ESA M4 mission candidate", Proc. SPIE 9904, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2016: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Wave, 99041W (29 July 2016); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2230964

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