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Space-based telescopes offer unparalleled opportunities for characterizing exoplanets, solar system bodies, and stellar objects. However, observatories in low-Earth orbits (e.g., Hubble, CHaracterising ExOPlanets Satellite, Twinkle, and an ever-increasing number of cubesats) cannot always be continuously pointed at a target due to Earth obscuration. For exoplanet observations consisting of transit, or eclipse, spectroscopy, this causes gaps in the light curve, which reduces the information content and can diminish the science return of the observation. Terminus, a time-domain simulator, has been developed to model the occurrence of these gaps to predict the potential impact on future observations. The simulator is capable of radiometrically modeling exoplanet observations as well as producing light curves and spectra. Here, Terminus is baselined on the Twinkle mission, but the model can be adapted for any space-based telescope and is especially applicable to those in a low-Earth orbit. Terminus also has the capability to model observations of other targets such as asteroids or brown dwarfs.Unified Astronomy Thesaurus concepts: Exoplanet atmospheres (487); Space telescopes (1547); Asteroids (72); Astronomical instrumentation (799); Infrared telescopes (794)

High performance scientific satellites are currently the exclusive domain of government funded agencies. The team behind the Twinkle Space Mission is developing a new class of small and sustainable science satellites that leverages recent innovations in the commercial space sector.Scientific missions delivered by space agencies have had a transformational impact on science and society. Missions such as Voyager have revealed valuable information about our solar system and beyond, while Earth observation satellites such as Envisat have provided long-term temperature trends confirming global warming. These pioneering missions have led to innumerable discoveries and set a high technical standard for space instrumentation.

<p>The Twinkle Space Mission is a space-based observatory that has been conceived to measure the atmospheric composition of exoplanets, stars and solar system objects. The satellite is based on a high-heritage platform and will carry a 0.45 m telescope with a visible and infrared spectrograph providing simultaneous wavelength coverage from 0.5 - 4.5 μm. The spacecraft will be launched into a Sun-synchronous low-Earth polar orbit and will operate in this highly stable thermal environment for a baseline lifetime of seven years.</p> <p>Twinkle will have the capability to provide high-quality infrared spectroscopic characterisation of the atmospheres of hundreds of bright exoplanets, covering a wide range of planetary types. It will also be capable of providing phase curves for hot, short-period planets around bright stars targets and of providing ultra-precise photometric light curves to accurately constrain orbital parameters, including ephemerides and TTVs/TDVs present in multi-planet systems.</p> <p>Twinkle is available for researchers around the globe in two ways:</p> <p>1) joining its collaborative multi-year survey programme, which will observe hundreds of exoplanets and solar system objects; and</p> <p>2) accessing dedicated telescope time on the spacecraft, which they can schedule for any combination of science cases.</p> <p>I will present an overview of Twinkle’s capabilities and discuss some example exoplanet surveys to highlight the broad range of targets the mission could observe, demonstrating the huge scientific potential of the spacecraft.</p>

<div>The Twinkle Space Mission is a space-based observatory that has been conceived to measure the atmospheric composition of exoplanets, stars and solar system objects. Twinkle’s collaborative multi-year global survey programmes will deliver visible and infrared spectroscopy of thousands of objects within and beyond our solar system, enabling participating scientists to produce world-leading research in planetary and exoplanetary science. Twinkle’s growing group of international Founding Members have now started shaping the survey science programme within focused Science Teams and Working Groups and will soon be delivering their first papers.</div> <div> </div> <div>Twinkle will have the capability to provide simultaneous broadband spectroscopic characterisation (0.5 - 4.5µm) of the atmospheres of several hundred bright exoplanets, covering a wide range of planetary types. It will also be capable of providing phase curves for hot, short-period planets around bright stars targets and of providing ultra-precise photometric light curves to accurately constrain orbital parameters, including ephemerides and TTVs/TDVs present in multi-planet systems.<br /><br />I will present an overview of Twinkle’s mission status and discuss some example exoplanet surveys to highlight the broad range of targets the mission could observe, demonstrating the scientific potential of the spacecraft. I will also report on the work of the Twinkle exoplanet Science Team, showcasing their science interests and the studies into Twinkle’s capabilities that they have conducted since joining the mission.</div>