Star & planet formation: Upcoming opportunities in the space-based infrared

TL;DR

Upcoming space-based infrared telescopes will address key questions in star and planet formation that current observatories cannot fully resolve, focusing on early stages, disk composition, and cloud structures.

Contribution

This paper reviews future infrared space missions and their potential to answer outstanding questions in star and planet formation research.

Findings

Infrared observations are crucial for understanding early star formation stages.

Upcoming missions will improve sensitivity and wavelength coverage beyond current capabilities.

Future missions are necessary to complement ground-based and other space observatories.

Abstract

While ALMA and JWST are revolutionizing our view of star and planet formation with their unprecedented sensitivity and resolution at submillimeter and near-IR wavelengths, many outstanding questions can only be answered with observations in the thermal (mid- and far-) infrared domain. Many of these questions require space-based observations, to achieve the necessary sensitivity and/or wavelength coverage. In particular, how do interstellar clouds develop filamentary structures and dense cores? What are the masses and luminosities of objects at the earliest stages of star formation? What are the gas masses of planet-forming disks, and how do these disks disperse during planet formation? How is refractory and volatile material distributed within the disks, and how does this evolve with time? This article reviews how upcoming and planned balloon-borne and space-based telescopes for the mid- and far-infrared will address these questions, and outlines which further missions will be needed beyond 2030, when the ELTs will be in full operation.