NATS 1530 (Science of Space Flight): A Report on Exoplanet TOI 700 d

This journal entry examines the discovery and ongoing research surrounding TOI 700 d, an Earth-sized exoplanet situated in the habitable zone, as discovered by NASA's TESS satellite. The report delves into the initial findings, the star it orbits (a red dwarf), and the other planets in the system. The research focuses on the planet's potential for supporting life, considering factors such as the presence of an atmosphere and surface temperature. Scientists are using models to assess the planet's habitability, with simulations suggesting it may be rocky. The journal highlights the challenges in gathering definitive data about TOI 700 d, emphasizing the need for further investigation and data from the TESS mission to fully understand the system's architecture and the potential for life.

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The journal is about a new Earth-size in the habitable zone, the planet was discovered by
NASA courtesy of its Training Exoplanet Survey Satellite. The discovery of this planet (TOI
700d) was officially announced on Jan 6, 2020. There are a lot of researches that are currently
ongoing on this new planet like if this planet can support life since it is situated in the habitable
zone (Bartels 1). In the early discovery of this planet, scientists did not know more about the TOI
700 d, they only had knowledge about its star which is a red dwarf and is more pleasant as
compared to the sun. The scientist sported 3 planets around this star which are TOI 700 b, TOI
700 c and TOI 700 d. The first 2 orbits near the star were found to be a promising world for life
while the third orbit is a magical ring known as a habitable zone.
At the moment scientist does not know whether the planet has an atmosphere or not, this
is a crucial clue to show if the planet has life or not. One of the scientists by the name Gilbert
said that if the plant has only rocks then no one can live there (Bartels 2). Currently, researchers
presume that TOI 700 d is rocky and they are trying to bridge the gap between the necessities of
life and what they already know about the planet. These were done through the use of a model,
another researcher by the name Engelmann-Suissa together with her colleagues ran about 20
models to confirm if this planet can support life.
For the first phase of TOI d models, the results were highly promising about supporting
life, Engelmann-Suissa stated that none of the models fell in a runaway greenhouse effect. From
the simulations, there was no incident where the result showed that there was ocean evaporation
which to her was a good sign of life. The hottest simulation recorded an average surface
temperature of 910C which is extremely hot for survival. Engelmann-Suissa said that even if the
temperature is too hot it would be presumptuous to conclude that there is no life in TOI 700 d.

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As per now, there is no concrete finding which can differentiate all possible flavors of
TOI 700d, this cannot even be achieved via James Webb Space which is a very powerful
Telescope. And Engelmann-Suissa said that this is a bigger problem in their field research. What
these scientists are much aware of is that by the beginning of this summer, TESS will be pointed
at TOI 700 and maybe this will help to get the full architecture of the system which they do not
know as per now. Rodriguez, another scientist said that they going to have more data which
could aid in knowing what is going on in the system (Bartels 4).

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References
Bartels, Meghan. "An Earth-size planet in the habitable zone? New NASA discovery is one special world."
Space.com (2020): 4. Journal. <https://www.space.com/nasa-tess-exoplanet-habitable-zone-
discovery-milestone.html>.