Abstract. The extinction spectra of laboratory generated sea salt aerosols have been measured from 1 µm to 20 µm using a Bruker 66v/S FTIR spectrometer. Concomitant measurements include temperature, pressure, relative humidity and the aerosol size distribution. The refractive indices of the sea salt aerosol have been determined using a simple harmonic oscillator band model for aerosol with relative humidities at eight different values between 0.4% to 86%. The resulting refractive index spectra show significant discrepancies when compared to existing sea salt refractive indices calculated using volume mixing rules (Shettle and Fenn, 1979). Specifically, an additional band is found in the refractive indices of dry sea salt aerosol and the new data shows increased values of refractive index at almost all wavelengths. This implies that the volume mixing rules, currently used to calculate the refractive indices of wet sea salt aerosols, are inadequate. Furthermore, the existing data for the real and imaginary parts of the refractive indices of dry sea salt aerosol are found not to display the Kramers-Kronig relationship. This implies that the original data used for the volume mixing calculations is also inaccurate.

The Exoplanet Characterisation Observatory (EChO) mission was one of the proposed candidates for the European Space Agency's third medium mission within the Cosmic Vision Framework. EChO was designed to observe the spectra from transiting exo-planets in the 0.55-11 micron band with a goal of covering from 0.4 to 16 micron. The mission and its associated scientific instrument has undergone a rigorous technical evaluation phase. This paper provides an overview of the payload instrument design for the mission, showing how the system acts together to fulfill the mission objectives. We report on the results of an extensive simulation of the instrument performance and show

Abstract. The extinction spectra of laboratory generated sea salt aerosols have been measured from 1 μm to 20 μm using a Bruker 66v/S FTIR spectrometer. Concomitant measurements include temperature, pressure, relative humidity and the aerosol size distribution. The refractive indices of the sea salt have been determined using a simple harmonic oscillator band model (Thomas et al., 2004) for aerosol with relative humidities between 0.1% to 100% sea salt. The resulting refractive index spectra show significant discrepancies when compared to existing sea salt refractive indices.

The discovery of almost two thousand exoplanets has revealed an unexpectedly diverse planet population. We see gas giants in few-day orbits, whole multi-planet systems within the orbit of Mercury, and new populations of planets with masses between that of the Earth and Neptune-all unknown in the Solar System. Observations to date have shown that our Solar System is certainly not representative of the general population of planets in our Milky Way. The key science questions that urgently need addressing are therefore: What are exoplanets made of? Why are planets as they are? How do planetary systems work and what causes the exceptional diversity observed as compared to the Solar System? The EChO (Exoplanet Characterisation Observatory) space mission was conceived to take up the challenge to explain this diversity in terms of formation, evolution, internal structure and planet and atmospheric composition. This requires in-depth spectroscopic knowledge of the atmospheres of a large and well-defined planet sample for which precise physical, chemical and dynamical information can be obtained. In order to fulfil this ambitious scientific program, EChO was designed as a dedicated survey mission for transit and eclipse spectroscopy capable of observing a large, diverse and well-defined planet sample within its 4-year mission lifetime. The transit and eclipse spectroscopy method, whereby the signal from the star and planet are differentiated using knowledge of the planetary ephemerides, allows us to measure atmospheric signals from the planet at levels of at least 10 −4 relative to the star. This can only be achieved in conjunction with a carefully designed stable payload and satellite platform. It is also necessary to provide broad instantaneous wavelength coverage to detect as many molecular species as possible, to probe the thermal structure of the planetary atmospheres and to correct for the contaminating effects of the stellar photosphere. This requires wavelength coverage of at least 0.55 to 11 μm with a goal of covering from 0.4 to 16 μm. Only modest spectral resolving power is needed, with R~300 for wavelengths less than 5 μm and R~30 for wavelengths greater than this. spectroscopy technique means that no spatial resolution is required. A telescope collecting area of about 1 m 2 is sufficiently large to achieve the necessary spectro-photometric precision: for the Phase A study a 1.13 m 2 telescope, diffraction limited at 3 μm has been adopted. Placing the satellite at L2 provides a cold and stable thermal environment as well as a large field of regard to allow efficient time-critical observation of targets randomly distributed over the sky. EChO has been conceived to achieve a single goal: exoplanet spectroscopy. The spectral coverage and signal-to-noise to be achieved by EChO, thanks to its high stability and dedicated design, would be a game changer by allowing atmospheric composition to be measured with unparalleled exactness: at least a factor 10 more precise and a factor 10 to 1000 more accurate tha...

The Exoplanet Characterisation Observatory (EChO) mission was one of the proposed candidates for the European Space Agency's third medium mission within the Cosmic Vision Framework. EChO was designed to observe the spectra from transiting exoplanets in the 0.55-11 micron band with a goal of covering from 0.4 to 16 microns. The mission and its associated scientific instrument has now undergone a rigorous technical evaluation phase and we report here on the outcome of that study phase, update the design status and review the expected performance of the integrated payload and satellite.