Atmospheric characterization of terrestrial exoplanets in the mid-infrared: biosignatures, habitability & diversity

Simon Albrecht , Guillem Anglada-Escude , Isabelle Baraffe , Pierre Baudoz , Jean-Luc Beuzit , Beth Biller , Jayne Birkby , Anthony Boccaletti , Roy van Boekel , Jos de Boer , Lars Buchhave , Ludmila Carone , Mark Claire , Riccardo Claudi , Brice-Olivier Demory , Jean-Michel Desert , Silvano Desidera , Raffaele Gratton , Michael Gillon , Olivier Guyon , Thomas Henning , Sasha Hinkley , Elsa Huby , Christiane Helling , Kevin Heng , Markus Kasper , Christoph Keller , Matthew Kenworthy , Laura Kreidberg , Nikku Madhusudhan , Anne-Marie Lagrange , Ralf Launhardt , Tim Lenton , Manuel Lopez-Puertas , Anne-Lise Maire , Nathan Mayne , Victoria Meadows , Giuseppina Micela , Julien Milli , Michiel Min , Ernst de Mooij , David Mouillet , Valentina d'Orazi , Isabella Pagano , Giampaolo Piotto , Garreth Ruane , Frans Snik , Daphne Stam , Christopher Stark , Arthur Vigan , Pieter de Visser , Sascha P. Quanz , Olivier Absil , Daniel Angerhausen , Willy Benz , Xavier Bonfils , Jean-Philippe Berger , Matteo Brogi , Juan Cabrera , William C. Danchi , Denis Defrère , Ewine van Dishoeck , David Ehrenreich , Steve Ertel , Jonathan Fortney , Scott Gaudi , Julien Girard , Adrian Glauser , John Lee Grenfell , Michael Ireland , Markus Janson , Jens Kammerer , Daniel Kitzmann , Stefan Kraus , Oliver Krause , Lucas Labadie , Sylvestre Lacour , Tim Lichtenberg , Michael Line , Hendrik Linz , Jérôme Loicq , Bertrand Mennesson , Michael R. Meyer , Yamila Miguel , John Monnier , Mamadou N'Diaye (1, 2, 3) , Enric Palle , Didier Queloz , Heike Rauer , Ignasi Ribas , Sarah Rugheimer , Franck Selsis , Gene Serabyn , Ignas Snellen , Alessandro Sozzetti , Karl R. Stapelfeldt , Amaury Triaud , Stéphane Udry , Mark Wyatt

1 LAGRANGE - Joseph Louis LAGRANGE
2 CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
3 OCA - Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur

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 we argue that a large space-based mission designed to detect and investigate thermal emission spectra of terrestrial exoplanets in the MIR 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 MIR 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 MIR exoplanet imaging mission will be needed to help answer one of mankind's most fundamental questions: "How unique is our Earth?"

Domaines: Planète et Univers [physics]; Physique [physics]

Simon Albrecht, Guillem Anglada-Escude, Isabelle Baraffe, Pierre Baudoz, Jean-Luc Beuzit, et al.. Atmospheric characterization of terrestrial exoplanets in the mid-infrared: biosignatures, habitability & diversity. 2020. ⟨hal-03033717⟩