Performance Assessment of NASA Mission Proposal to Characterize Exoplanet Atmospheres with Space-based High-Resolution IR Spectrometer

The search for life beyond our Solar System requires the remote detection of molecules in exoplanet atmospheres. One goal of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is to detect particular molecules in the atmospheres of transiting exoplanets with the help of longer wavelength coverage and improved sensitivity. Higher spectral resolution in the infrared region beyond that of JWST could reveal a greater wealth of information about key molecules in these atmospheres. We use of a model of HD 209458b's transmission and eclipse spectra to simulate observations for a proposed infrared spectrometer with ten times the resolution of JWST. The spectrometer would be launched into space and could make these measurements. We explore its parameters and noise tolerances in order to support a satellite mission containing the suggested infrared spectrometer. We show that even signal-to-noise ratios of 100 can lead to statistically-significant measurements of exoplanet atmospheres. This work serves as a preliminary set of guidelines that will be crucial for making robust observations of exoplanet atmospheres with a space-based high-resolution infrared spectrometer.