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EChO

Proposed space telescope

Summary

Proposed space telescope

Field	Value
name	EChO
image
image_caption
image_alt
image_size
mission_type	Astronomy
operator	ESA
website
mission_duration	4–5 years
launch_mass	2100 kg
BOL_mass
landing_mass
dry_mass
payload_mass
dimensions
power
launch_date	2024
launch_rocket	Soyuz STA/Fregat
launch_site	Kourou ELS
launch_contractor	Arianespace
orbit_reference	Sun–Earth L2
orbit_regime	Halo or Lissajous
orbit_epoch	planned
apsis	apsis
telescope_type	Cassegrain
telescope_diameter	1.4 m
telescope_focal_length	2 m
telescope_area	14 m2
telescope_wavelength	from 0.55 μm (orange)
to 11μm (long-infrared)
(goal: 0.4 to 16 μm)
instruments

to 11μm (long-infrared) (goal: 0.4 to 16 μm)

The Exoplanet Characterisation Observatory (EChO) was a proposed space telescope as part of the Cosmic Vision roadmap of the European Space Agency, and competed with four other missions for the M3 slot in the programme. On 19 February 2014 the PLATO mission was selected in place of the other candidates in the programme, including EChO.

EChO would have been the first dedicated mission to investigate exoplanetary atmospheres, addressing the suitability of those planets for life and placing the Solar System in context. EChO was intended to provide high resolution, multi-wavelength spectroscopic observations. It would have measured the atmospheric composition, temperature and albedo of a representative sample of known exoplanets, constrain models of their internal structure and improve understanding of how planets form and evolve. | display-authors = 29 | doi-access = free }} It would have orbited around the L2 Lagrange point, 1.5 million km from Earth in the anti-sunward direction.

SPEChO

Following PLATO's M3 selection, a proposal to add EChO on the joint Japanese-European SPICA far-infrared telescope emerged. The proposed EChO instrument on SPICA (SPEChO) is a spectrometer covering light wavelengths from 5 to 20 micrometres, and will observe exoplanet atmospheres utilizing transit spectroscopy. As long with a potential to recover the original scientific goals from EChO, SPEChO will enable SPICA to conduct specialized exoplanetary science studies. SPEChO may also be useful for the science case of galaxies.

However SPEChO's capabilities overlap with the James Webb Space Telescope's MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument), therefore SPEChO's advantages over other instruments has become a focus of whether or not to include it on SPICA.

Other M3 mission candidates

MarcoPolo-R
LOFT
STE-QUEST

References

(16 December 2013). "EChO mission summary". [[ESA]].
(30 June 2013). "EChO spacecraft". [[ESA]].
(2012). "EChO - Exoplanet Characterisation Observatory". Experimental Astronomy.
(19 February 2014). "ESA selects planet-hunting PLATO mission". [[European Space Agency.
(28 January 2015). "SPICA計画の経緯・現状". Japan Radio Astronomy Forum.
(5 June 2015). "SPICAの現状". [[Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe]].
(26 November 2014). "SPICAサイエンス検討中間報告". Group of Optical and Infrared Astronomers SPICA task force.
(26 November 2014). "タスクフォースからの提言近傍銀河および星惑星系形成分野". Group of Optical and Infrared Astronomers SPICA task force.

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

european-space-agency-space-probes space-telescopes exoplanet-search-projects cosmic-vision

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