Ariel's Journey: From Concept to Reality
ESA's exoplanet mission, Ariel, has successfully completed the spacecraft preliminary design phase and is now moving into the construction phase. The mission's scientific payload, including a cryogenic telescope and two instruments, has already passed a crucial review. Airbus Defence and Space Toulouse will now begin manufacturing the first spacecraft prototypes. Ariel's structural model and avionics verification model will undergo testing before the actual flight model is built. The mission aims to observe up to 1000 exoplanets and study their atmospheres, including detecting signs of water vapor, carbon dioxide, and methane.