The EChO science case
Abstract
The discovery of almost 2000 exoplanets has revealed an unexpectedly diverse planet population. Observations to date have shown that our Solar System is certainly not representative of the general population of planets in our Milky Way. The key science questions that urgently need addressing are therefore: What are exoplanets made of? Why are planets as they are? What causes the exceptional diversity observed as compared to the Solar System? EChO (Exoplanet Characterisation Observatory) has been designed as a dedicated survey mission for transit and eclipse spectroscopy capable of observing a large and diverse planet sample within its four-year mission lifetime. EChO can target the atmospheres of super-Earths, Neptune-like, and Jupiter-like planets, in the very hot to temperate zones (planet temperatures of 300K-3000K) of F to M-type host stars. Over the next ten years, several new ground- and space-based transit surveys will come on-line (e.g. NGTS, CHEOPS, TESS, PLATO), which will specifically focus on finding bright, nearby systems. The current rapid rate of discovery would allow the target list to be further optimised in the years prior to EChO's launch and enable the atmospheric characterisation of hundreds of planets. Placing the satellite at L2 provides a cold and stable thermal environment, as well as a large field of regard to allow efficient time-critical observation of targets randomly distributed over the sky. A 1m class telescope is sufficiently large to achieve the necessary spectro-photometric precision. The spectral coverage (0.5-11 micron, goal 16 micron) and SNR to be achieved by EChO, thanks to its high stability and dedicated design, would enable a very accurate measurement of the atmospheric composition and structure of hundreds of exoplanets.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1502.05747,
title = {The EChO science case},
author = {Giovanna Tinetti and Pierre Drossart and Paul Eccleston and Paul Hartogh and Kate Isaak and Martin Linder and Christophe Lovis and Giusi Micela and Marc Ollivier and Ludovic Puig and Ignasi Ribas and Ignas Snellen and Bruce Swinyard. France Allard and Joanna Barstow and James Cho and Athena Coustenis and Charles Cockell and Alexandre Correia and Leen Decin and Remco de Kok and Pieter Deroo and Therese Encrenaz and Francois Forget and Alistair Glasse and Caitlin Griffith and Tristan Guillot and Tommi Koskinen and Helmut Lammer and Jeremy Leconte and Pierre Maxted and Ingo Mueller-Wodarg and Richard Nelson and Chris North and Enric Pallé and Isabella Pagano and Guseppe Piccioni and David Pinfield and Franck Selsis and Alessandro Sozzetti and Lars Stixrude and Jonathan Tennyson and Diego Turrini and Mariarosa Zapatero-Osorio. Jean-Philippe Beaulieu and Denis Grodent and Manuel Guedel and David Luz and Hans Ulrik Nørgaard-Nielsen and Tom Ray and Hans Rickman and Avri Selig and Mark Swain. Marek Banaszkiewicz and Mike Barlow and Neil Bowles and Graziella Branduardi-Raymont and Vincent Coudé du Foresto and Jean-Claude Gerard and Laurent Gizon and Allan Hornstrup and Christopher Jarchow and Franz Kerschbaum and Géza Kovacs and Pierre-Olivier Lagage and Tanya Lim and Mercedes Lopez-Morales and Giuseppe Malaguti and Emanuele Pace and Enzo Pascale and Bart Vandenbussche and Gillian Wright and Gonzalo Ramos Zapata. Alberto Adriani and Ruymán Azzollini and Ana Balado and Ian Bryson and Raymond Burston and Josep Colomé and Vincent Coudé du Foresto and Martin Crook and Anna Di Giorgio and Matt Griffin and Ruud Hoogeveen and Roland Ottensamer and Ranah Irshad and Kevin Middleton and Gianluca Morgante and Frederic Pinsard and Mirek Rataj and Jean-Michel Reess and Giorgio Savini and Jan-Rutger Schrader and Richard Stamper and Berend Winter. L. Abe and M. Abreu and N. Achilleos and P. Ade and V. Adybekian and L. Affer and C. Agnor and M. Agundez and C. Alard and J. Alcala and C. Allende Prieto and F. J. Alonso Floriano and F. Altieri and C. A. Alvarez Iglesias and P. Amado and A. Andersen and A. Aylward and C. Baffa and G. Bakos and P. Ballerini and M. Banaszkiewicz and R. J. Barber and D. Barrado and E. J. Barton and V. Batista and G. Bellucci and J. A. Belmonte Avilés and D. Berry and B. Bézard and D. Biondi and M. Błęcka and I. Boisse and B. Bonfond and P. Bordé and P. Börner and H. Bouy and L. Brown and L. Buchhave and J. Budaj and A. Bulgarelli and M. Burleigh and A. Cabral and M. T. Capria and A. Cassan and C. Cavarroc and C. Cecchi-Pestellini and R. Cerulli and J. Chadney and S. Chamberlain and S. Charnoz and N. Christian Jessen and A. Ciaravella and A. Claret and R. Claudi and A. Coates and R. Cole and A. Collura and D. Cordier and E. Covino and C. Danielski and M. Damasso and H. J. Deeg and E. Delgado-Mena and C. Del Vecchio and O. Demangeon and A. De Sio and J. De Wit and M. Dobrijévic and P. Doel and C. Dominic and E. Dorfi and S. Eales and C. Eiroa and M. Espinoza Contreras and M. Esposito and V. Eymet and N. Fabrizio and M. Fernández and B. Femenía Castella and P. Figueira and G. Filacchione and L. Fletcher and M. Focardi and S. Fossey and P. Fouqué and J. Frith and M. Galand and L. Gambicorti and P. Gaulme and R. J. García López and A. Garcia-Piquer and W. Gear and J. -C. Gerard and L. Gesa and E. Giani and F. Gianotti and M. Gillon and E. Giro and M. Giuranna and H. Gomez and I. Gomez-Leal and J. Gonzalez Hernandez and B. González Merino and R. Graczyk and D. Grassi and J. Guardia and P. Guio and J. Gustin and P. Hargrave and J. Haigh and E. Hébrard and U. Heiter and R. L. Heredero and E. Herrero and F. Hersant and D. Heyrovsky and M. Hollis and B. Hubert and R. Hueso and G. Israelian and N. Iro and P. Irwin and S. Jacquemoud and G. Jones and H. Jones and K. Justtanont and T. Kehoe and F. Kerschbaum and E. Kerins and P. Kervella and D. Kipping and T. Koskinen and N. Krupp and O. Lahav and B. Laken and N. Lanza and E. Lellouch and G. Leto and J. Licandro Goldaracena and C. Lithgow-Bertelloni and S. J. Liu and U. Lo Cicero and N. Lodieu and P. Lognonné and M. Lopez-Puertas and M. A. Lopez-Valverde and I. Lundgaard Rasmussen and A. Luntzer and P. Machado and C. MacTavish and A. Maggio and J. -P. Maillard and W. Magnes and J. Maldonado and U. Mall and J. -B. Marquette and P. Mauskopf and F. Massi and A. -S. Maurin and A. Medvedev and C. Michaut and P. Miles-Paez and M. Montalto and P. Montañés Rodríguez and M. Monteiro and D. Montes and H. Morais and J. C. Morales and M. Morales-Calderón and G. Morello and A. Moro Martín and J. Moses and A. Moya Bedon and F. Murgas Alcaino and E. Oliva and G. Orton and F. Palla and M. Pancrazzi and E. Pantin and V. Parmentier and H. Parviainen and K. Y. Peña Ramírez and J. Peralta and S. Perez-Hoyos and R. Petrov and S. Pezzuto and R. Pietrzak and E. Pilat-Lohinger and N. Piskunov and R. Prinja and L. Prisinzano and I. Polichtchouk and E. Poretti and A. Radioti and A. A. Ramos and T. Rank-Lüftinger and P. Read and K. Readorn and R. Rebolo López and J. Rebordão and M. Rengel and L. Rezac and M. Rocchetto and F. Rodler and V. J. Sánchez Béjar and A. Sanchez Lavega and E. Sanromá and N. Santos and J. Sanz Forcada and G. Scandariato and F. -X. Schmider and A. Scholz and S. Scuderi and J. Sethenadh and S. Shore and A. Showman and B. Sicardy and P. Sitek and A. Smith and L. Soret and S. Sousa and A. Stiepen and M. Stolarski and G. Strazzulla and H. M Tabernero and P. Tanga and M. Tecsa and J. Temple and L. Terenzi and M. Tessenyi and L. Testi and S. Thompson and H. Thrastarson and B. W. Tingley and M. Trifoglio and J. Martín Torres and A. Tozzi and D. Turrini and R. Varley and F. Vakili and M. de Val-Borro and M. L. Valdivieso and O. Venot and E. Villaver and S. Vinatier and S. Viti and I. Waldmann and D. Waltham and D. Ward-Thompson and R. Waters and C. Watkins and D. Watson and P. Wawer and A. Wawrzaszk and G. White and T. Widemann and W. Winek and T. Wiśniowski and R. Yelle and Y. Yung and S. N. Yurchenko},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1502.05747},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
50 pages, 30 figures. Experimental Astronomy