1. National Aeronautics and Space Administration 1 Traub Exoplanets: Astro2010 Survey Results, ExEP Proposed Community Actions (Joint presentation with Alan Boss) Wesley A. Traub Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology “In the Spirit of Lyot 2010” Paris Observatory, 25-29 Oct. 2010 Copyright 2010 California Institute of Technology. Government sponsorship acknowledged.

2. National Aeronautics and Space Administration Perspective 2 Previous talk (Alan Boss): The Astro2010 Recommendations This talk: Exoplanet Exploration Program (ExEP) Proposed Community Actions Following talk (Doug Hudgins): The NASA Approach to the Next Decade of Exoplanet Discoveries

3. National Aeronautics and Space Administration Astro2010, page 7-23 3 Recommendations for New Space Activities—Medium Projects Priority 1 (Medium, Space). New Worlds Technology Development Program for a 2020 Decade Mission to Image Habitable Rocky Planets One of the fastest growing and most exciting fields in astrophysics is the study of planets beyond our solar system. The ultimate goal is to image rocky planets that lie in the habitable zone of nearby stars—at a distance from their star where water can exist in liquid form—and to characterize their atmospheres. Detecting signatures of biotic activity is within reach in the next 20 years if we lay the foundations this decade for a dedicated space mission in the next.

4. National Aeronautics and Space Administration Astro2010, pages 7-22 & 7-23 4 For the direct detection mission itself, candidate starlight suppression techniques (for example, interferometry, coronagraphy, or star shades) should be developed to a level such that mission definition for a space-based planet imaging and spectroscopy mission could start late in the decade in preparation for a mission start early in the 2020 decade. The committee envisions that this program can be implemented at moderate funding levels early in this decade, but that it will require augmentation over current support levels for all of these activities. From the above considerations, a budget of $4 million per year is recommended in the first several years of the decade, in addition to the generally available technology development funds. If the scientific groundwork has been laid and the design requirements for an imaging mission have become clear by the second half of this decade, a technology down-select should be made. … a notional decadal budget of $100 million is proposed. However, … the appropriate level must be determined by a decadal survey independent advice committee (DSIAC) review. It could range between the notional budget used here up to a significant (perhaps on the order $200 million) mission-specific technology program starting mid-decade. The committee’s proposed program is designed to allow a habitable-exoplanet imaging mission to be well formulated in time for consideration by the 2020 decadal survey.

5. National Aeronautics and Space Administration We now have implicit marching orders… 5 If the exoplanet community agrees to a path that leads to a community decision, by about 2015, on a single mission for the 2020s, then the DSIAC may recommend accelerated technical development leading to a mission proposal for the 2020 decadal survey. This mission must have * : scientific merit technical readiness balance affordable cost tolerable risk * Debra Elmegreen, President AAS, Oct. newsletter.

6. National Aeronautics and Space Administration Role of ExoPAG 6 The logical body for deciding on a path to get us to 2015 is the community-wide NASA Exoplanet Exploration Program Analysis Group (ExoPAG). Jim Kasting is the Chair. D. Bennett, D. Coulter, T. Greene, B. Hansen, L. Kaltenegger, B. Macintosh, C. Noecker, A, Roberge, A. Weinberger are Executive Committee members, and D. Hudgins & W. Traub are ex officio members. The entire exoplanet community constitutes the greater ExoPAG. The NASA Astrophysics Subcommittee has asked the ExoPAG to analyze how we can reach consensus by 2015. 3 subcommittees will examine the 3 main techniques, and suggest how we can apply the guidelines (previous chart) to reach consensus. The subcommittee areas are external occulter, internal coronagraph, and interferometer. Target date for plan is AAS meeting, late May 2011, Boston.

7. National Aeronautics and Space Administration Your input is needed 7 You are the ExoPAG. Your thoughts are needed. We wish to converge on a plan for a mission that has scientific merit, technical readiness, balance, affordable cost, and tolerable risk. This is our only path to a mission in the 2020s. Other areas of astrophysics have done this. We can do it too.

8. National Aeronautics and Space Administration 8 Thank you!