Are there other Earths and Life in the Universe? What do they look like? Even though we have never been closer to answering these important and daring questions, we still need to improve our ability of accurate characterization of telluric planets. The EXO-TERRA project is aimed at contributing to achieve this pivotal goal by improving our understanding of the compositional characterization of terrestrial planets.

The main motivation and aim of the proposed multi-disciplinary team – consisting of experts working on stellar and exoplanet astrophysics – is to take full advantage of our strong involvement in the ESPRESSO@VLT (ESO) and CHEOPS (ESA) consortia to study the star-planet compositional link with the ultimate goal of characterizing terrestrial planets orbiting solar-type stars. In this respect, the unique data products we have privileged access to are pivotal for the success of achieving our science goals. Likewise, the full scientific exploitation of these data is strategic for our team and institute which has a very strong investment in the development of these facilities.

The astrophysical questions that the EXO-TERRA team will attempt to answer in the project are:
– What is the origin of the compositional diversity of terrestrial planets?
– Around which stars should we search for Earth 2.0?