Abstract Details

Name: Anandmayee Tej
Affiliation: Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology
Conference ID: ASI2020_150
Title : ExoWorlds - An Overview
Authors and Co-Authors : Anandmayee Tej on behalf of the ExoWorlds Team
Abstract Type : Invited
Abstract Category : Special Session
Abstract : The last decade has seen the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) make major inroads in the field of planetary explorations. Envisaging a giant leap forward, a pioneering ISRO mission, ExoWorlds, is proposed which holds the promise to be the world-leading facility in the next decade for studies of planets beyond the Solar System – the exoplanets. A few thousand planets have now been discovered displaying extreme diversities in their bulk macroscopic properties. Presently, the major focus within the field of exoplanets is to discern the atmospheres of exoplanets and throw light on the involved atmospheric processes and chemical compositions, which in turn can inform us about various other aspects such as planet formation and planetary interiors, apart from having crucial astrobiological implications. The central goal of this mission is to conduct, for the first time, a comprehensive survey of chemical composition and atmospheric processes of a large population of exoplanets. This would lead to a paradigm shift in our understanding and classification of planetary systems and shed crucial light on their formation and evolution. This breakthrough science goal will be realized through high-precision transit spectroscopy which offers a unique opportunity to probe the exoplanetary atmospheres without the need for direct imaging. In this talk, I will present a brief overview of the mission objectives and preliminary configurations.