Artist’s impression of exoplanet in front of star. Credit: ESA/ATG medialab, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
Artist's impression of exoplanet in front of star. Credit: ESA/ATG medialab, CC BY-SA 3. IGO - The UK Government has announced an investment of £30m in the Ariel space mission to explore the atmospheres of exoplanets. Due to launch in 2029, Ariel's mission is to understand the links between a planet's chemical composition, its formation and evolution, and its host star, by characterising the atmospheres of 1,000 known planets outside our solar system. Ariel, the Atmospheric Remote-sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large-survey, will provide a step-change in our understanding of what exoplanets are made of, how they were formed and how they evolve. Scientific data will be released to the scientific community and general public at regular intervals throughout its planned four-year operational phase. Ariel is being developed by a 17-country international team led by Professor Giovanna Tinetti of University College London, with other UK organisations including Cardiff University, the University of Oxford and the Science and Technology Facilities Council's (STFC) RAL Space at the Harwell Space Cluster in Oxfordshire.
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