FINDING AND CHARACTERIZING A LARGE AND DIVERSE POPULATION OF TRANSITING EXOPLANETS WITH HATSOUTH IN SUPPORT OF NASASPACE MISSIONS THE GOAL OF THIS PROPOSAL IS TO UTILIZE THE FULLY-OPERATIONAL HATSOUTH GLOBAL TELESCOPE NETWORK IN SUPPORT OF THE NASA K2 TESS AND JWST MISSIONS WITH THE AIM OF BROADENING THE DISCOVERY SPACE OF THESE MISSIONS AND JOINTLY OR SEPARATELY DISCOVERING AND CHARACTERIZING A LARGE NUMBER OF INTERESTING TRANSITING EXOPLANETS AROUND STARS BRIGHT ENOUGH TO ENABLE DETAILED FOLLOW-UP STUDY BY FACILITIES INCLUDING JWST. HERE WE PLACE A PARTICULAR EMPHASIS ON CLASSES OF PLANETS THAT HAVE NOT BEEN WELL-STUDIED TO DATE: NAMELY NEPTUNE-SIZE OR SMALLER PLANETS PLANETS WITH ORBITAL PERIODS>10 DAYS (OR LONGER) AND PLANETS AROUND M DWARF STARS OR A-TYPE STARS.WE WILL ACHIEVE THIS GOAL BY USING THE HATSOUTH GLOBAL TELESCOPE NETWORK OVER A 4 YEAR PERIOD TO CARRY OUT PHOTOMETRIC TIME-SERIES OBSERVATIONS OF 15% OF THE SOUTHERN SKY YIELDING SEVERAL MONTH LONG NEARLY CONTINUOUS LIGHT CURVES FOR APPROXIMATELY 4 MILLION STARS IN THE MAGNITUDE RANGE 9.5<R<15.5 AT SUBSTANTIALLY HIGHER SPATIAL RESOLUTION THAN TESS AND WITH A PHOTOMETRIC PRECISION THAT IS COMPARABLE TO TESS FOR MANY STARS. HERE WE TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE GLOBAL NATURE OF HATSOUTH TO PROVIDE TIME-COVERAGE THAT IS AS CLOSE TO SPACE-LIKE AS POSSIBLE FROM THE GROUND. WE WILL FOLLOW AN OBSERVING STRATEGY THAT PROVIDES MAXIMUM SUPPORT FOR THE K2 AND TESS MISSIONS. FIRST WE WILL SCAN SOUTHERN K2 FIELDS TO SUBMIT CANDIDATE TRANSITING PLANET SYSTEMS FOR HIGH-PRECISION MONITORING BY K2 AND THEN WE WILL MONITOR FIELDS IN THE TESS 27-DAY OBSERVING WINDOW TO EXTEND THE TIME-COVERAGE OF THESE REGIONS OF THE SKY AND ENABLE THE DISCOVERY OF PLANETS WITH PERIODS LONGER THAN 15 DAYS THROUGH A JOINT ANALYSIS OF THE TESS AND HATSOUTH LIGHT CURVES.WE WILL COMBINE THE HATSOUTH LIGHT CURVES WITH SPACE-MISSION DATA WHEN AVAILABLE SEARCH THESE DATA FOR TRANSITING PLANET SIGNALS AND CARRY OUT A LARGE FOLLOW-UP PROGRAM FOR APPROXIMATELY 20% OF THE CANDIDATES TO CONFIRM AND CHARACTERIZE APPROXIMATELY 100 PLANETS. THE HIGHER RESOLUTION HATSOUTH DATA WILL ALSO BE USED TO RULE OUT HUNDREDS OF BLENDED ECLIPSING BINARY SYSTEMS THAT ARE SELECTED AS PLANET CANDIDATES IN THE LOWER SPATIAL RESOLUTION TESS DATA. ALL DATA FROM THIS PROJECT WILL BE MADE PUBLIC. THIS INCLUDES ALL HATSOUTH LIGHT CURVES ALREADY GENERATED AND THOSE WHICH WILL BE GENERATED THROUGH OBSERVATIONS CARRIED OUT DURING THE PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE.THIS PROPOSED EFFORT WILL CONTRIBUTE SIGNIFICANTLY TO THE NASA K2 TESS AND JWST MISSIONS AND TO THE EXPLORATION OF EXOPLANETS IN THE GALAXY. BY PRE-SELECTING CANDIDATE PLANETS FOR MONITORING BY K2 WE WILL BE ABLE TO INCREASE THE NUMBER OF TRANSITING PLANETS OBSERVED AT HIGH-PRECISION BY THIS MISSION BY AS MUCH AS 20 PERCENT. THE 3 ARCSECOND SPATIAL RESOLUTION OF HATSOUTH WILL ALLOW US TO RULE OUT HUNDREDS OF BLENDED ECLIPSING BINARY FALSE POSITIVES SELECTED AS PLANET CANDIDATES BY TESS WHILE THE EXTENDED TIME COVERAGE OF HATSOUTH WILL ALLOW US TO FIND DOZENS OF LONG PERIOD PLANETS THROUGH A JOINT ANALYSIS OF HATSOUTH AND TESS DATA THAT WOULD NOT BE FOUND BY TESS OR HATSOUTH ALONE. THE HATSOUTH DATA WILL ALSO BE USED TO CONFIRM MANY CANDIDATE TRANSIT SIGNALS FOUND BY TESS AROUND INTRINSICALLY FAINT K AND M DWARF STARS. MOREOVER OUR FOLLOW-UP OBSERVATIONS WILL CONTRIBUTE TO THE OVERALL TESS FOLLOW-UP EFFORT. CONTINUED HATSOUTH OBSERVATIONS BY THEMSELVES WILL YIELD APPROXIMATELY 500 TRANSITING PLANET DETECTIONS IN ADDITION TO THE APPROXIMATELY 400 PLANETS ALREADY IDENTIFIED BY HATSOUTH AND THE 700 EXPECTED TO BE IDENTIFIED IN DATA THAT HAVE BEEN COLLECTED. WE EXPECT OUR FOLLOW-UP EFFORT TO CONFIRM AND PROVIDE A DETAILED CHARACTERIZATION OF APPROXIMATELY 100 OF THESE INCLUDING DOZENS OF PLANETS THAT ARE NEPTUNES OR SUPER-EARTHS THAT HAVE PERIODS LONGER THAN 20 DAYS OR THAT ARE ORBITING M DWARF STARS. A SIGNIFICANT FRACTION OF THESE WILL BE AROUND STARS WITH K<12