Summary: We now know of more than 5,000 exoplanets, i.e. planets orbiting stars other than our Sun.

Statistical analyses suggest that the frequency of planets with a radius of between typically 0.5 and 1.5 Earth radii and orbital separations that could in principle allow the existence of liquid water on their surface (i.e. the so-called habitable zone) is of the order of 60% for solar-type stars. Consequently, a systematic atmospheric study of dozens of Earth analogues and a quantitative assessment of their habitability and the possible existence of clues to life, i.e. atmospheric constituents that would indicate the presence of a biosphere on the planet (Schwieterman et al. 2018), requires large-scale, highly optimised space missions, in particular with the two HWO and LIFE projects.

As an initiative of researchers from the High-Contrast Imaging (HCI) community, the purpose of the workshop is to discuss R&D avenues at European institutions for technology and its applications in HWO-related science. We want to focus in particular on space-based, visible-light and near-IR direct imaging at high contrast. We recognize that this goal requires expertise from all different angles, including science, and space-base technology even if not explicitly High-Contrast Imaging.

Objectives: i/ Report on status of the field and recent evolution, and ii/ Define a roadmap of developments, maturation steps, timeline and resources for Europe.

Program & Logistics: Final version

For Speakers: GoogleDrive to share your slides. 

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We acknowledge that there will be a significant overlap with ground-based applications and hence also people who hold that expertise. We want to provide space for synergetic discussions with the goal to keep a general space-based focus.

This work is supported by the Exo-Worlds Imaging Group, and the PSF and APEX departments at the Max-Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg.