Planetary systems and Earth Observation
Department

Exoplanetary systems, Asteroids, Magnetism & Earth observation

The Planetary Systems and Earth Observation Department works in theoretical, observational and experimental projects and missions the objectives of which span from boosting the knowledge of our Planet using spaceborne techniques to the discovery, and characterization of planetary systems around other stars, or the study of the secrets contained in asteroids, comets and meteorites, with clues on the accretionary processes occurred in our planetary system.

Main research lines

New spaceborne Earth Observation techniques using opportunistic sources

Development of innovative spaceborne remote sensing techniques to monitor the Earth system (atmosphere, oceans, land variables) using signals emitted by non-cooperating satellites (satellites designed for purposes other than Earth Observation).

Magnetism in exoplanetary systems

MHD simulations of internal and atmospheric dynamo processes in planets, radio observations of planetary systems to detect magnetically-powered coherent emission.

The star-planet connection

Detection and characterization of planetary systems and their host stars. Simulations and inverse problem for stellar activity characterisation. Participation in the development and exploitation of space missions and ground-based instrumentation. Observational stellar physics. Data analysis and Machine learning in astronomy. Tools and methodologies for optimal scheduling of observations.

Asteroids, Comets and Meteorites

These bodies are remnants of the primordial blocks participating in planetary accretion, and host clues on the formation and evolution of the rock-forming materials. The study of their physico-chemical properties by remote sensing missions or through sample-returned materials and meteorites provides valuable information for current theories about the early conditions in protoplanetary disks, the processes suffered by the building blocks of planets or the different stages of the planetary accretion phase.

Experimental Research & Development

The department leads the Radio Occultation and Heavy Precipitation experiment aboard the PAZ satellite, it also proposed and participates in the ESA HydroGNSS mission and it is part of one of EUMETSAT's Earth Polar Orbit (EPO) Satellite Application Facility (SAF).

The department is also developing new drone-based passive reflectometry sensors to measure soil moisture profiles at different depths in the benefit of precision agriculture.

The exoplanets group is involved in the exploitation of the CARMENES+ and Cheops projects. It is also involved in the development and science preparation activities of the Ariel/ESA and Plato/ESA missions, and has numerous collaborations for precision characterisation of exoplanets using coordinated space- (Cheops, HST, JWST) and ground-based observations (Telescopi Joan Oró, other small observatories, European Southern Observatory’s, Calar Alto, La Palma and others). The group is also building up computational capabilities to deal with large datasets and machine learning models to deal with complex multi-site observations.

The asteroids, comets and meteorites group is involved in the scientific interpretation of data from several space missions like DART (NASA) and Hera (ESA) dedicated missions to better understand the two Potentially Hazardous Asteroids forming (65803) Didymos system.

Our missions

ARIEL

CARMENES

CHEOPS

DART

HERA

HydroGNSS

PAZ

PLATO

Examples of synergies among projects

We have an interdisciplinary approach that relates the different projects to each other: magnetism in exoplanetary systems is closely related to stellar activity, which is widely studied by the exoplanets group.

The study of the components of undifferentiated meteorites provides direct information about the early materials forming protoplanetary disks, and isotopically dating chondrules and refractory inclusions provide key time constraints for planet formation.