The phase 0/A study of the ESA M3 mission candidate EChO

EChO, the Exoplanet Characterisation Observatory, has been one of the five M-class mission candidates competing for the M3 launch slot within the science programme Cosmic Vision 2015–2025 of the European Space Agency (ESA). As such, EChO has been the subject of a Phase 0/A study that involved European Industry, research institutes and universities from ESA member states and that concluded in September 2013. EChO is a concept for a dedicated mission to measure the chemical composition and structure of hundreds of exoplanet atmospheres using the technique of transit spectroscopy. With simultaneous and uninterrupted spectral coverage from the visible to infrared wavelengths, EChO targets extend from gas giants (Jupiter or Neptune-like) to super-Earths in the very hot to temperate zones of F to M-type host stars, opening up the way to large-scale, comparative planetology that would place our own solar system in the context of other planetary systems in the Milky Way. A review of the performance requirements of the EChO mission was held at ESA at the end of 2013, with the objective of assessing the readiness of the mission to progress to the Phase B1 study phase. No critical issues were identified from a technical perspective, however a number of recommendations were made for future work. Since the mission was not selected for the M3 launch slot, EChO is no longer under study at ESA. In this paper we give an overview of the final mission concept for EChO as of the end of the study, from scientific, technical and operational perspectives.