In a broader scientific context, the goal of TPF is to understand the properties of all planetary constituents. In addition to Earth-like planets, it will study the orbital and physical properties of gas giants and debris disks.
Such data will be crucial to the refinement and validation of planetary systems models.
The standard model of solar system formation holds that planets originate in a flattened disk of material formed in the collapse of a rotating cloud of dust and gas. While this theory has been strengthened by observations of protostellar disks that span tens to hundred of astronomical units (AU) across, the recent discoveries of extrasolar planets with diverse orbital properties suggest that planetary systems are dynamic and that planets may migrate from the site of their birth.
TPF will provide essential information on the mass and temperature distribution within the disks surrounding young stars, the cradles of new planets. This information will yield important clues on physical processes that determine how rocky and gaseous planets form.
The comparison of planetary systems around stars with different masses and ages will provide additional clues to the frequency with which habitable planets occur, allowing an estimate of the frequency of Earth-like planets through the cosmos as a whole.
Astrophysics
An observatory with the power to detect an Earth orbiting a nearby star will be able to collect important data on many targets of general astrophysical interest. TPF will be capable of revealing individual star formation regions in distant galaxies and in the central regions of galaxies where enormous bursts of star formation occur
The mission will explore a wide range of physical processes in the universe with unprecedented detail, including the icy cores of comets, protostars condensing out of interstellar matter, the winds of dying stars and the cores of distant ultra-luminous galaxies.
