ESCAPE: NASA's Proposed Mission to Study Exoplanet Atmospheric Evolution

• NASA is proposing the ESCAPE mission to study how stellar extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) radiation and coronal mass ejections (CME) impact the habitability of exoplanets.
• The mission aims to resolve current discrepancies in atmospheric mass loss models, which can vary by a factor of ten.
• ESCAPE will act as a general observer program, surveying over 300 stars rather than focusing on individual targets.

Scientific Objectives

• Determine the EUV irradiance levels within exoplanetary habitable zones.
• Track the evolution of stellar EUV irradiance over time.
• Characterize the properties of stellar coronal mass ejections.

Mission Operations

• The mission is proposed for a 2-year duration with two primary survey components:
  • SEEN (Stellar Euv ENvironments): A 12-kilosecond snapshot survey of 276 F, G, K, and M-dwarf stars to correlate age and mass with EUV/FUV luminosity.
  • DEEP (Dedicated Euv Eruption Program): A monitoring program observing 24 stars for 1 Megasecond each to measure flaring frequencies and CME rates.

Advanced Capabilities

• ESCAPE will be over 50 times more sensitive than its predecessor, the Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer (EUVE).
• Potential extended mission objectives include:
  • Analyzing cometary volatiles in the inner Solar System.
  • Comparing interstellar comets with those in our Solar System.
  • Studying hot white dwarfs, interacting binaries, and the local interstellar medium.