ESA inks deal with Airbus for new 'Ariel' satellite to hunt for hidden exoplanets

The European Space Agency (ESA) on Tuesday, December 7, announced its collaboration with aerospace company Airbus for the development of a satellite to study the exoplanets, meaning the planets outside our solar system. Named the Atmospheric Remote-sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large-survey or Ariel, the satellite is the third in a trio of ESA’s dedicated exoplanet missions and will be launched in 2029. According to the agency, this soon-to-be-developed satellite will follow the legacies of Cheops, which launched in 2019, and Plato, which is planned for launch in 2026.

From formation to evolution of exoplanets, Ariel will study it all

The Ariel satellite is being developed to survey about 1000 exoplanets in visible and infrared wavelengths to study the formation and evolution as well as the composition of the exoplanets. talking about the mission, ESA said in its statement-

It is the first mission dedicated to measuring the chemical composition and thermal structures of exoplanets, linking them to the host star’s environment. This will fill a significant gap in our knowledge of how the planet’s chemistry is linked to the environment where it formed, or if and how the type of host star drives the physics and chemistry of the planet’s evolution. 

The agency added that scientists will be able to determine the early stages of planetary and atmospheric formation along with insights into the evolutionary processes which would shed more light on the understanding of our solar system. And needless to say, the observations by the satellite would also reveal if life exists or can exist on other planets. Günther Hasinger, ESA’s Director of Science was quoted saying as per the agency, “With this milestone for the Ariel mission we celebrate the continuation of the outstanding relationship with our industry partners to keep Europe at the forefront of excellence in the field of exoplanet research well into the next decade and beyond”. 

As for the development of the Ariel satellite, Airbus will provide expertise and support to ESA for designing, manufacturing and integrating the spacecraft elements at the Toulouse facility in France. Besides this, the engineering of the avionics, radio frequency communication and electrical design of the platform will be led by the Airbus branch in the UK. Airbus carries a bus-load of experience in developing spacecraft and satellites as it has built multiple spacecraft for ESA including Juice, Gaia, Solar Orbiter, Lisa Pathfinder and Cheops.

Image: Twitter/@esascience