EChO - Exoplanet Characterisation Observatory

G. Tinetti (1) , J. P. Beaulieu (2) , T. Henning (3) , M. Meyer , G. Micela (4) , I. Ribas (5) , D. Stam (6) , M. Swain (7) , O. Krause , M. Ollivier (8) , E. Pace , B. Swinyard , A. Aylward (1) , R. van Boekel (9) , A. Coradini , T. Encrenaz (10) , I. Snellen , M. R. Zapatero-Osorio , J. Bouwman , J. Y-K. Cho , V. Coudé Du Foresto (10) , T. Guillot (11) , M. Lopez-Morales , I. Mueller-Wodarg , E. Palle , Franck Selsis (12) , A. Sozzetti , P. A. R. Ade , N. Achilleos (13) , A. Adriani , C. B. Agnor , C. Afonso (14) , C. Allende Prieto , G. Bakos , R. J. Barber (13) , M. Barlow , P. Bernath (15) , B. Bezard (10) , Pascal Bordé , L. R. Brown , A. Cassan , C. Cavarroc , A. Ciaravella , C. O. U. Cockell , A. Coustenis (10) , C. Danielski , L. Decin , R. de Kok , O. Demangeon , P. Deroo , P. Doel , P. Drossart (10) , L. N. Fletcher (16) , M. Focardi , F. Forget (17, 18) , S. Fossey , P. Fouqué (19) , J. Frith , M. Galand (20) , P. Gaulme (21) , J. I. González Hernández , O. Grasset (22) , D. Grassi (23) , J. L. Grenfell (24) , M. J. Griffin , C. A. Griffith , U. Grözinger , M. Guedel , P. Guio (13) , O. Hainaut , R. Hargreaves , P. H. Hauschildt , K. Heng , D. Heyrovsky , R. Hueso (25) , P. Irwin , L. Kaltenegger , P. Kervella (10) , D. Kipping , T. T. Koskinen , G. Kovács , A. La Barbera , H. Lammer , E. Lellouch (10) , G. Leto (26) , M. Lopez Morales , M. A. Lopez Valverde , M. Lopez-Puertas (27) , C. Lovis , A. Maggio , J. P. Maillard , J. Maldonado Prado , J. B. Marquette (2) , F. J. Martin-Torres , P. Maxted , S. Miller (28) , S. Molinari (23) , D. Montes , A. Moro-Martin , J. I. Moses , O. Mousis (29) , N. Nguyen Tuong (10) , R. Nelson , G. S. Orton , E. Pantin (14, 30) , E. Pascale , S. Pezzuto (23) , D. Pinfield , E. Poretti (31) , R. Prinja (1) , L. Prisinzano , J. M. Rees (10) , A. Reiners , B. Samuel , A. Sanchez-Lavega (25) , J. Sanz Forcada , D. Sasselov , G. Savini , B. Sicardy (10) , A. Smith , L. Stixrude , G. Strazzulla , J. Tennyson , M. Tessenyi , G. Vasisht , S. Vinatier (10) , S. Viti (7) , I. Waldmann , G. J. White (32) , T. Widemann (10) , R. Wordsworth (16) , R. Yelle (33) , Y. Yung , S. N. Yurchenko

1 UCL - University College of London [London]
2 IAP - Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris
3 MPIA - Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie
4 OAPa - INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Palermo
5 ICE-CSIC - Institut de Ciencies de l'Espai [Barcelona]
6 SRON - SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research
7 IPAG - Institut de Planétologie et d'Astrophysique de Grenoble
8 LTM - Laboratoire des technologies de la microélectronique
9 AI PANNEKOEK - Astronomical Institute Anton Pannekoek
10 LESIA - Laboratoire d'études spatiales et d'instrumentation en astrophysique
11 CASSIOPEE - Laboratoire de Cosmologie, Astrophysique Stellaire & Solaire, de Planétologie et de Mécanique des Fluides
12 SSE 2012
13 Department of Physics and Astronomy [UCL London]
14 IRFU - Institut de Recherches sur les lois Fondamentales de l'Univers
15 Department of Chemistry [Waterloo]
16 AOPP - Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics [Oxford]
17 UPMC - Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6
18 LMD - Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique (UMR 8539)
19 LATT - Laboratoire Astrophysique de Toulouse-Tarbes
20 Space and Atmospheric Physics Group [London]
21 FIZEAU - Laboratoire Hippolyte Fizeau
22 LPG - Laboratoire de Planétologie et Géodynamique [UMR 6112]
23 IFSI - Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario
24 ZAA - Zentrum für Astronomie und Astrophysik [Berlin]
25 Departamento de Fisica Aplicada [Bilbao]
26 Osserv Astrofis Catania, Ist Nazl Astrofis
27 IAA - Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía
28 Atmospheric Physics Laboratory [UCL London]
29 UTINAM - Univers, Transport, Interfaces, Nanostructures, Atmosphère et environnement, Molécules (UMR 6213)
30 AIM (UMR7158 / UMR_E_9005 / UM_112) - Astrophysique Interprétation Modélisation
31 OAB - INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera
32 Engineering Department
33 LPL - Lunar and Planetary Laboratory [Tucson]

A dedicated mission to investigate exoplanetary atmospheres represents a major milestone in our quest to understand our place in the universe by placing our Solar System in context and by addressing the suitability of planets for the presence of life. EChO -the Exoplanet Characterisation Observatory- is a mission concept specifically geared for this purpose. EChO will provide simultaneous, multi-wavelength spectroscopic observations on a stable platform that will allow very long exposures. EChO will build on observations by Hubble, Spitzer and groundbased telescopes, which discovered the first molecules and atoms in exoplanetary atmospheres. EChO will simultaneously observe a broad enough spectral region -from the visible to the mid-IR- to constrain from one single spectrum the temperature structure of the atmosphere and the abundances of the major molecular species. The spectral range and resolution are tailored to separate bands belonging to up to 30 molecules to retrieve the composition and temperature structure of planetary atmospheres. The target list for EChO includes planets ranging from Jupiter-sized with equilibrium temperatures Teq up to 2000 K, to those of a few Earth masses, with Teq ~300 K. We have baselined a dispersive spectrograph design covering continuously the 0.4-16 micron spectral range in 6 channels (1 in the VIS, 5 in the IR), which allows the spectral resolution to be adapted from several tens to several hundreds, depending on the target brightness. The instrument will be mounted behind a 1.5 m class telescope, passively cooled to 50 K, with the instrument structure and optics passively cooled to ~45 K. EChO will be placed in a grand halo orbit around L2. We have also undertaken a first-order cost and development plan analysis and find that EChO is easily compatible with the ESA M-class mission framework.

Domaines: Planétologie et astrophysique de la terre [astro-ph.EP]; Planétologie et astrophysique de la terre [astro-ph.EP]; Instrumentation et méthodes pour l'astrophysique [astro-ph.IM]; Instrumentation et méthodes pour l'astrophysique [astro-ph.IM]; Physique [physics]; Astrophysique [astro-ph]

G. Tinetti, J. P. Beaulieu, T. Henning, M. Meyer, G. Micela, et al.. EChO - Exoplanet Characterisation Observatory. Experimental Astronomy, 2012, 34 (2), pp.311-353. ⟨10.1007/s10686-012-9303-4⟩. ⟨hal-00652401⟩