Abstract
The holy grail of ExoPlanet research is finding and characterizing
terrestrial planets orbiting in the habitable zones of a neighboring
stars. The first question to be answered is: does the planet have an
atmosphere, and what is it’s composition. Theory and observation confirm
that the one universal atmospheric component should be CO_2. Hence a
successful mission must determine it’s presence. The most direct path to
detection is through the enormously strong 15 micron vibration-rotation
feature of CO_2, hence the technology we’re developing. Because of the
CO_2 in the earth’s atmosphere, this requires a space observatory, such
as the JWST. Our technology can also be used to detect water vapor and
ozone in exoplanet atmospheres, the latter of which indicates abundant
life, probably indicative of a ‘Cambrian Explosion’ event on the
exoplanet.