An experiment in Astrobiology: exploring the climate parameter space of rocky planets

Astrobiology is a relatively new and fast-growing science, whose main
characteristic is to need expertises from different science fields.
I’ll show how the climate of a planet influences its abitability.
Astronomers from OATs, climatologists from CNR and experts in
databases from OATs joined their efforts to build a fast, simplified,
yet effective climate model and database for extra-solar planets. I
will describe
the model, its main feature, its validation, its application to a
specific exo-planet (Kepler 452b). I will then show how such a model
can be used to explore a huge parameter space and build a database
that can be used to characterize classes of habitable planets. I will
point out how this particular case is an good example of
High-Throughput Computing (HTC). Our database can also be used, e.g.,
as a tool to get a first estimate of the habitability of a newly
discovered rocky planet.
Then I will describe possible future developements of such a research
line, including the study of the effect of the biosphere itself on the
habitability.