Project

The EASE project is a research initiative focused on understanding the diverse evolutionary pathways of the inner solar system's rocky planets: Earth, Venus, and Mars. In the era of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), studying these familiar planets with unprecedented precision offers a unique opportunity to inform our understanding of the vast number of exoplanets being discovered. By looking back at the early conditions of our own solar system planets, the project aims to shed light on why Earth became habitable while Mars and Venus evolved differently.

Core Approach: The project employs a unique joint evolutionary study combining numerical modelling of volcanism, atmospheric escape to space, and spectroscopy. The team will utilise cutting-edge numerical models to simulate interior processes, the evolution of both lower and upper atmospheres, and the resulting atmospheric spectra of Earth, Venus, and Mars across different evolutionary stages.

Key Themes: The EASE project focuses on several important research topics to understand the divergent evolution of these planets:

• Atmospheric Composition: Studying the evolution of the composition of their atmospheres and the crucial role played by volcanic outgassing.
• Atmospheric Escape: Investigating how atmospheric escape to space from the upper atmospheres influenced the lower atmospheres and surface conditions. This includes studying the role of planetary magnetospheres in protecting atmospheres from stellar wind and radiation.
• Evolving Spectra: Studying the evolving spectroscopic appearances of Earth, Venus, and Mars over time and generalising these findings to understand exoplanetary analogues