ESA's Ariel mission will boldly spot exoplanets not seen before

The European Space Agency is launching a mission to find out how planets form and how life emerges in space, it announced on Tuesday. Ariel, also known as the Atmospheric Remote-sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large-survey mission, will narrow down on the search for exoplanets and is expected to launch in 2028. Other spacecraft …

[Michael H.F. Wilkinson]

Fascinating stuff

We live in really exciting times, with huge jumps in the capability of instruments. I will certainly raise a pint to the success of this mission when it launches (and before too, of course, and when the results come in; you have to keep practising, after all).

[Phil O'Sophical]

"meter-long telescope"

Not "metre-long" but "metre-class". The main mirror is ~1.1 m x 0.7 m elliptical, the spacecraft is 3.8 x 2.2 x 3.3 m with solar array wings deployed

[Chris G]

Re: "meter-long telescope"

Thank you for your that, a metre long sounded a bit limited for the job.