M-DWARFS ARE ABUNDANT AND FREQUENTLY HOST SMALL PLANETS. IN THE COMING DECADE EFFORTS TO DETECT AND CHARACTERIZE ROCKY PLANETS WILL FOCUS ON M-DWARFS. HOWEVER THESE STARS ARE KNOWN TO BE HIGHLY MAGNETICALLY ACTIVE THUS PLANETS THEY HOST ARE SUBJECTED TO SIGNIFICANTLY MORE RADIATION THAN WE EXPERIENCE FROM THE SUN; JUST HOW MUCH THIS AFFECTS THEIR HABITABILITY IS UNSETTLED. WE PROPOSE AN AMBITIOUS MULTI-YEAR MULTI-INSTRUMENT CAMPAIGN TO MONITOR M-DWARFS WITH AGES FROM 10 MYR TO 10 GYR. X-RAY UV AND RADIO OBSERVATIONS WILL BE COMBINED WITH SIMULTANEOUS HIGH-PRECISION OPTICAL DATA FROM THE TRANSITING EXOPLANET SURVEY SATELLITE (TESS). THE COMBINED DATA WILL PROVIDE A COMPLETE PICTURE OF M DWARF ACTIVITY ENABLING US TO IDENTIFY ENVIRONMENTS CONDUCIVE TO HARBORING HABITABLE PLANETS.
$91,672FY2020National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA
University Of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore MD