Evolution of Exoplanet Atmospheres and their Characterisation
Project Coordinator/Proposer: Helmut Lammer
Space Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Schmiedlstr. 6,
A-8042, Graz, Austria
E-mail: helmut.lammer@oeaw.ac.at;
Phone: 0043 316 4120 641; Fax: 0043 316 4120 690
Abstract: Recent studies and observations (with the Hubble and Spitzer
Space Telescope) of transiting giant exoplanets suggest that spectra of
transiting planets can be used to infer many properties of their
atmospheres and internal structures, including hydrodynamic escape,
hydrogen ENA clouds, thermal profiles, density, composition and
evolution. The spectrum of the Earth displays features, such as O3, O2
and CH4 bands, or vegetation reflection, that are directly or
indirectly inherited from the biosphere. To improve our understanding
of the formation and evolution processes for the planets in our solar
system and beyond, we propose a broad interdisciplinary investigation
focused on planetary atmospheres. Our study will start from the origins
of planets within the protoplanetary nebula and will follow their
evolution due to thermal and non-thermal atmospheric escape processes
-related to the host stars activity-, anorganic (e.g. fractionation due
to loss processes, chemical changes due to energetic particles, etc.)
and organic (life appearance) modifications, and finally will evaluate
the impact of these processes on the planetary spectra. The results
provided by this project will have important implications for present
and future space missions, to detect and characterize exoplanets, like
CoRoT, Kepler and further into the future Darwin/TPF. Thanks to those
missions, comparative exo-planetology and the remote detection of life
on extrasolar worlds will become a reality.