Ariel-IT: 5th national meeting
Fuligno Cenacle
5th national meeting for the preparation of the Ariel space mission
The Ariel space mission, adopted by ESA, represents a cornerstone of European exoplanet science and a strategic opportunity for Italy to consolidate a leading role in the study of exoplanetary atmospheres. Ariel will perform a homogeneous spectroscopic survey of approximately 1000 transiting exoplanets, enabling a population-level understanding of planetary atmospheres, formation pathways, and evolutionary processes. The mission is scheduled for launch in 2031, with payload development and community preparations in a critical phase over the next years.
Since 2019, the Italian community actively engaged in Ariel has organised a series of national meetings dedicated to consolidating scientific activities, defining preparatory analyses, and consolidating national contributions to the Ariel Mission Consortium. The 5th national meeting for the preparation of the Ariel space mission (May 2026) is a strategic continuation of this effort successfully to bring together researchers working on stellar and planetary characterisation, atmospheric simulations, spectral synthesis, host star properties, and mission dry runs, fostering collaboration and establishing concrete preparatory steps for high-impact science in the Ariel era.
The meeting aims to:
- consolidate and coordinate Italian scientific contributions for the Ariel preparation;
- align national activities with ESA and Ariel Consortium timelines and priorities;
- define common strategies for the determination of homogeneous stellar parameters, fundamental properties of the planets, planetary atmospheric properties, disc chemistry, planetary formation and chemical evolution, spectral synthesis, simulations and retrievals;
- support the involvement and training of early-career researchers, in line with INAF’s capacity-building objectives;
- reinforce Italy’s visibility and leadership within the Ariel mission and the broader ESA science programme.
LOC: M. Tsantaki (chair), L. Magrini (co-chair)