DARWIN - A Mission to Detect, and Search for Life on, Extrasolar Planets
C. S. Cockell, A. Leger, M. Fridlund, T. Herbst, L. Kaltenegger, O., Absil, C. Beichman, W. Benz, M. Blanc, A. Brack, A. Chelli, L. Colangeli, H., Cottin, V. Coude du Foresto, W. Danchi, D. Defrere, J.-W. den Herder, C., Eiroa, J. Greaves, T. Henning, K. Johnston, H. Jones

TL;DR
The Darwin mission aims to detect and analyze terrestrial exoplanets in mid-infrared wavelengths to search for signs of life, involving interdisciplinary collaboration and advanced spectroscopic technology.
Contribution
This paper introduces the Darwin mission concept, detailing its objectives, target selection, technological readiness, and potential scientific impact in the search for extraterrestrial life.
Findings
Identification of 25-50 target planetary systems for spectroscopic study
Detection of key biosignature gases like CO2, H2O, CH4, and O3
Technologies required are mostly mature or near maturity
Abstract
The discovery of extra-solar planets is one of the greatest achievements of modern astronomy. The detection of planets with a wide range of masses demonstrates that extra-solar planets of low mass exist. In this paper we describe a mission, called Darwin, whose primary goal is the search for, and characterization of, terrestrial extrasolar planets and the search for life. Accomplishing the mission objectives will require collaborative science across disciplines including astrophysics, planetary sciences, chemistry and microbiology. Darwin is designed to detect and perform spectroscopic analysis of rocky planets similar to the Earth at mid-infrared wavelengths (6 - 20 micron), where an advantageous contrast ratio between star and planet occurs. The baseline mission lasts 5 years and consists of approximately 200 individual target stars. Among these, 25 to 50 planetary systems can be…
Peer Reviews
No public reviews on file for this paper yet. If you reviewed it on a platform where reviews are public (OpenReview, ICLR, NeurIPS, ICML), you can paste yours below so the community can read it here.
Videos
No videos yet. Explain this paper in a talk, walkthrough, or lecture? Add one.
