Institute of Astrophysics and Space Sciences participates in ESA's 'Ariel' Mission

The Institute of Astrophysics and Space Sciences (IA), through a team led by Pedro Machado from IA and the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon, will participate in the next mission of ESA – European Space Agency, the ‘Ariel’ Mission. Starting in 2028, this is the first space mission dedicated to studying the nature and chemistry of the atmosphere of a thousand exoplanets (planets that are not part of the Solar System and are located in other systems).

To date, the studies carried out have focused only on identifying exoplanets, the masses that constitute them and their dimensions. The 'Ariel' Mission seeks to understand their appearance or the relationship that can be established between exoplanets and their parent star, and also how the Solar System fits into the diversity of planetary systems.

The development of models of the planets of the Solar System, carried out so far by the IA, has contributed to the creation of a more general model of planetary atmospheres, which will support the scientific objectives of the 'Ariel' Mission. The IA team also has the mission of cooperating in the transmission of knowledge about the atmospheres of the Solar System to aid research on the atmospheres of exoplanets.

Recently, another international team of researchers, which includes 9 IA researchers, discovered a new planet, K2-229 b, which has dimensions similar to planet Earth and the same density and composition as Mercury. The discovery of K2-229 b could help us understand how planets like Mercury formed and evolved, as well as some of their peculiarities.