Outside our solar system: The European Space Agency plans a research mission to the outer planets

Tuesday 7 December 2021

outside our solar system
The European Space Agency is planning a research mission on exoplanets

More than 5,000 exoplanets have been identified since 1995. In order to learn more about their creation and development, the European Space Agency wants to launch a space telescope into space in 2029. Above all, the chemical composition of the planets must be researched.

In a new research mission, the European Space Agency (ESA) wants to investigate the nature and evolution of planets outside our solar system that orbit other stars. The Ariel mission – a space telescope launched into space – could help find out if there is life elsewhere in the universe or an Earth-like planet, according to a message from the Paris-based European Space Agency.

Starting in 2029, Ariel will make long-term observations of about 1,000 so-called exoplanets over a four-year period. The European Space Agency hopes to gain insight into the early stage of planet formation and their atmospheres and further develop them. Specifically, the goal is to study the chemical composition of the passing exoplanets and their thermal structures. The focus should be on warm and hot planets in particular.

The exoplanets were first seen in 1995. Since then, more than 5,000 of them have been identified. The European Space Agency is already investigating some of them during the European Space Agency’s “Khufu” mission. Little is known about the chemical composition of the atmospheres of exoplanets.

The European Space Agency commissioned European aircraft manufacturer Airbus to build the spacecraft for the research mission. According to the announcement, the order value is about 200 million euros.