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

The Institute for Astrophysics and Space Sciences (IA), through a team led by Pedro Machado from the IA and the Faculty of Science of the University of Lisbon, will participate in the next mission of the 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 outside the Solar System that are part of other systems).

To date, studies have focused only on identifying exoplanets, their masses and dimensions. The 'Ariel' Mission seeks to know what they look like 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 goals of the 'Ariel' Mission. The IA team's mission is also to cooperate in transmitting 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 researchers from the IA, discovered a new planet, K2-229 b, which is similar in size to the planet Earth and has the same density and composition as Mercury. The discovery of K2-229 b may help us understand how planets like Mercury formed and evolved, as well as some of their peculiarities.