Ariel moves from blueprint to reality

ESA’s exoplanet mission Ariel, scheduled for launch in 2029, has moved from study to implementation phase, following which an industrial contractor will be selected to build the spacecraft.

ESA的系外行星任务Ariel计划于2029年发射，已从研究阶段转到实施阶段，此后将选择技术承包商来制造航天器。

Ariel, the Atmospheric remote-sensing infrared exoplanet large-survey mission, addresses one of the key themes of ESA’s Cosmic Vision programme: What are the conditions for planet formation and the emergence of life? Ariel will study what exoplanets are made of, how they formed and how they evolve, by surveying a diverse sample of around 1000 planetary atmospheres simultaneously in visible and infrared wavelengths.

        大气遥感红外波段系外行星广域调查任务，Ariel，提出了ESA宇宙视界计划的关键问题之一：行星形成和生命出现的条件是什么？Ariel将通过对可见光和红外波长范围，对大约1000个行星的大气进行调查，来研究系外行星的组成，以及它们如何形成以及如何演化。

It is the first mission dedicated to measuring the chemical composition and thermal structures of exoplanets, linking them to the host star’s environment. This will fill a significant gap in our knowledge of how the planet’s chemistry is linked to the environment where it formed, or whether the type of host star drives the physics and chemistry of the planet’s evolution.

        这是第一个致力于测量系外行星化学成分和热学结构并将其与宿主恒星环境联系起来的任务。 这将填补我们对行星化学与行星形成环境之间的联系，以及宿主恒星的类型是否能够驱动行星演化的物理与化学知识的重大空白。

Observations of these worlds will give insights into the early stages of planetary and atmospheric formation, and their subsequent evolution, in the process also helping us to understand how our own Solar System fits into the bigger picture of the overall cosmos.

        对这些“世界”的观察将允许我们洞察行星及其大气形成的早期阶段及其后续演变，在此过程中还将帮助我们了解我们自己的太阳系并推广到整个宇宙的更大范围。

Ariel was selected in 2018 as the fourth medium-class science mission in ESA’s Cosmic Vision plan. It was ‘adopted’ by ESA during the Agency’s Science Programme Committee meeting on 12 November, paving the way towards construction.

        Ariel在2018年被选为ESA宇宙视界计划中的第四次中级科学任务。 在11月12日的原子能机构科学计划委员会会议上，欧空局“采纳”了该方案，从而为实施方案铺平了道路。

Ariel will be ESA’s third dedicated exoplanet mission to launch within a ten-year period, with each mission tackling a unique aspect of exoplanet science. Cheops, the CHaracterising ExOPlanet Satellite,  launched in December 2019, is already producing world-class science. Plato, the PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars mission, will be launched in the 2026 timeframe to find and study extrasolar planetary systems, with a special emphasis on rocky planets around Sun-like stars in the habitable zone – the distance from a star where liquid water can exist on a planet’s surface. Ariel, planned to launch in 2029, will focus on warm and hot planets, ranging from super-Earths to gas giants orbiting close to their parent stars, taking advantage of their well-mixed atmospheres to decipher their bulk composition.  

         Ariel将是ESA在十年内发射的第三次专门的系外行星飞行任务，其中每个任务都将处理系外行星科学的独特方面。  Cheops，系外行星特征卫星，于2019年12月发射，已经产生了世界一流的科学。 PLATO（行星横越与恒星振荡卫星）任务将在2026年启动，以寻找和研究太阳系外行星系统，并特别着重于类太阳恒星周围位于宜居带内的岩石行星（距恒星距离适宜，水可以存在于行星表面上）。 计划于2029年发射的Ariel将专注于温暖和炽热的行星，从超级地球到在其母恒星附近运行的气态巨行星，利用混合的大气层来解密其总体组成。

In the coming months, industry will be asked to make bids to supply spacecraft hardware for Ariel. Around summer next year, the prime industrial contractor will be selected to build it.

在接下来的几个月中，将要求技术承包商竞标为Ariel提供航天器硬件。 明年夏天左右，将选择中标的技术承包商来建造它。

The mission’s payload module, which includes a one metre-class cryogenic telescope and associated science instruments, is provided by the Ariel Mission Consortium. The consortium comprises more than 50 institutes from 17 European countries. NASA also contributes to the payload.

        该任务的有效载荷模块由一个Ariel任务联盟提供，其中包括一米级的低温望远镜和相关的科学仪器。 该联盟包括来自17个欧洲国家的50多个研究所。NASA也为有效载荷做出了贡献。

“After an intensive period working on the preliminary design concepts and on the consolidation of the required technologies to demonstrate the mission feasibility, we are ready to move Ariel forward to the implementation stage,” says ESA’s Ariel study manager Ludovic Puig.

Ariel项目的研究经理鲁多维奇·普伊格说：“经过大量时间研究初步设计概念和整合必要的技术以证明任务可行性，我们准备将Ariel推进到实施阶段。”

The telescope’s spectrometers will measure the chemical fingerprints of a planet as it crosses in front of – ‘transits’ – its host star, or passes behind it – an ‘occultation’. The measurements will also enable astronomers to observe the dimming of the host star by the planet with a precision of 10–100 parts per million relative to the star.

        望远镜的光谱仪将测量行星在其恒星前经过—发生掩星时的化学痕迹。 这些测量还将使天文学家能够观测行星对恒星亮度的影响，相对于恒星亮度精度达为百万分之10到100的变化。

Ariel will be able to detect signs of well-known ingredients in the planets’ atmospheres such as water vapour, carbon dioxide and methane. It will also detect more exotic metallic compounds to decipher the overall chemical environment of the distant solar system. For a select number of planets, Ariel will also perform a deep survey of their cloud systems and study seasonal and daily atmospheric variations.

        Ariel将能够探测到行星大气中众所周知的成分的迹象，例如水蒸气，二氧化碳和甲烷。 它还将检测更多的外来金属化合物，以破译遥远星系的整体化学环境。 对于特定数量的行星，爱丽儿还将对它们的大气系统进行深入调查，并研究季节性和每日大气变化。

“With Ariel we will take exoplanet characterisation to the next level by studying these distant worlds both as individuals and, importantly, as populations, in much greater detail than ever before possible,” says ESA’s Ariel study scientist Göran Pilbratt.

       Ariel项目的研究科学家戈兰·皮尔布拉特说：“有了Ariel，我们将通过研究那些遥远的世界，研究单个行星，更重要的是研究系外行星整体，这将使对系外行星的特征研究提升到一个新的水平。”

“Our chemical census of hundreds of solar systems will help us understand each planet in context of the chemical environment and composition of the host star, in turn helping us to better understand our own cosmic neighbourhood,” adds ESA’s Ariel project scientist Theresa Lueftinger. 

         Ariel的项目科学家特蕾莎·路易汀补充说：“我们对数百个行星系进行的化学普查将帮助我们详细了解行星的化学环境与其主星的组成，进而帮助我们更好地了解自己的宇宙邻居们。”

“We’re pleased to enter the implementation phase of the Ariel mission,” says ESA’s Ariel project manager Jean-Christophe Salvignol. “We’re moving towards the optimal spacecraft design for answering fundamental questions about our place in the cosmos.”

         Ariel的项目经理让·克里斯托夫·萨尔维尼奥尔说：“我们很高兴进入Ariel任务的实施阶段。我们正在朝着优化航天器设计的方向不断努力，以回答有关我们在宇宙中的位置这个基本问题。”

Ariel is planned for launch on ESA’s new Ariane 6 rocket from Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. It will operate from an orbit around the second Sun-Earth Lagrange point, L2, 1.5 million kilometres directly ‘behind’ Earth as viewed from the Sun, on an initial four-year mission. The ESA-led Comet Interceptor mission will share the ride into space.

        Ariel计划从法属圭亚那库鲁的欧洲太空港在欧空局的新“阿里安6”火箭上发射。 它将进行为期四年的任务，它将在日地拉格朗日L2点环绕轨道运行，从太阳看，该点直接位于地球后方150万公里。 它将与ESA领导的彗星拦截任务一同发射。

原文地址：

http://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Ariel_moves_from_blueprint_to_reality

2020/11/12

有关Ariel

https://sci.esa.int/web/ariel/