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Markus Kissler-Patig

Current and future ESA exoplanet missions

The European Space Agency has built the strongest suite of facilities world-wide to study exoplanets from space. Together with synergies with Solar System missions, it puts the ESA science community at the forefront of comparative planetology.
On behlaf of ESA, I will present the world's top Exoplanet fleet. ESA's exoplanet explorers are about to deliver the greatest advance yet in one of the most active fields in astrophysics - planets around other stars! These "exoplanets" hold the key to the big questions how solar systems formed; how planets formed; which types of planets are out there, how many, and how many that could support life? Can we even find clues hinting to life existing on faraway planets? Our exoplanet fleet is pioneered by recently-launched CHEOPS, a small satellite with great powers, delivering crucial parameters and new insight into known exoplanets. Gaia will identify exoplanets through astrometry in DR3 (release in 2022) and help identify families of asteroids in our own solar system. The recently launched and deployed Webb (JWST) mission will not only image exoplanets, but also measure their atmospheres and composition, advancing our search for habitable worlds. Webb will be followed by two ground-breaking missions: PLATO, which is dedicated to the search for rocky planets around sun-like stars - i.e. the candidates for habitable Earth-like worlds. Ariel will give us the first comprehensive, in-depth view of exoplanet atmospheres - their composition, their conditions, including weather e.g. winds and clouds; and help us to find life-friendly worlds - and perhaps hints of life.