Research
Exoplanet science
My research in exoplanetary science focuses on planetary populations and comparative planetology. I develop and apply instrument simulators such as ExoRad and ExoSim, which give a detailed picture of instrumental systematics and observational constraints. Combined with data analysis and atmospheric retrieval, these tools support robust interpretation of exoplanet observations and consistent comparison across planetary samples, at the scale a full mission survey needs.
Focus
What I work on
Instrument simulation
End-to-end and radiometric simulation of spectrographs and photometers, from the focal plane to non-destructive reads, to predict and validate mission performance.
Atmospheric retrievals
Numerical inference of atmospheric composition, thermal structure and clouds from low and medium resolution transit and eclipse spectra.
Calibration and detrending
Modelling systematics and calibration effects so that extracted spectra are trustworthy inputs for retrieval and comparison.
Planetary populations
Comparative planetology across large target samples, studying what a full mission survey can reveal about planet formation and evolution.
Missions
Where the work lands
Ariel
Atmospheric Remote-sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large-survey
ESA's M4 mission, due to launch in 2028 for a four-year spectroscopic survey of around 1,000 transiting exoplanets from the visible to the mid-infrared: the first statistically significant survey of exoplanet atmospheres.
My role: Responsible for the mission performance simulator, coordinator of the S2MD working group, and co-manager of the official Ariel software repository.
EXCITE
EXoplanet Climate Infrared TElescope
A NASA balloon-borne spectrograph with a 0.5 m telescope, measuring spectroscopic phase curves of hot Jupiters across 1 to 4 microns over full orbits to map their temperature and chemistry with longitude.
My role: Mission performance and data analysis expert.
Leadership
Coordination
Beyond individual studies, I coordinate simulation and pipeline work for the ESA Ariel mission and contribute to NASA EXCITE.
Coordinator, S2MD Working Group
2022 to presentAriel Consortium
S2MD is the Simulators, Software, Management and Documentation group, responsible for Ariel end-to-end simulations and data-pipeline definition. Also responsible for performance models across the consortium, and co-owner and manager of the official Ariel software repository.
Data generation lead, Ariel Data Challenge
2024 to 2025NeurIPS and Kaggle, 2024 and 2025
Generated the challenge data with ExoSim 2 for two community machine-learning competitions on retrieving exoplanet atmospheres. The 2024 edition, hosted at NeurIPS in Vancouver, drew around 7,000 participants and 20,000 submissions; both editions carried a Kaggle and Google prize, totalling USD 100,000.
Mission performance and data analysis expert
2020 to presentEXCITE Team, NASA
Performance modelling and data analysis for the EXCITE balloon-borne spectrograph.
Collaborations
Service
Roles and memberships
- Ariel Consortium
- Member since 2018, responsible for performance models, mission simulations and the data reduction pipeline.
- Exoplanet Discovery Group, JPL
- Guest member, contributing instrumentation and data-analysis expertise.
- ExoClock
- Italian and Welsh contact, coordinating amateur astronomers who monitor transiting-exoplanet ephemerides.
- Peer review
- Reviewer for ApJ, Experimental Astronomy, PASP, RASTI and JOSS.
- Learned societies
- Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and of the European Astronomical Society.
Path
Appointments
2023–present
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Cardiff University · Cardiff, UK
2024–2025
Visiting Researcher
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory · Pasadena, USA
2023–2025
Honorary Research Fellow
University College London · London, UK
2022–2025
Research Associate
INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico di Palermo · Palermo, Italy
2021–2023
Research Fellow
Sapienza University of Rome · Rome, Italy
Education, awards and teaching are on the about page.
Contact
Work together
For research collaborations, academic roles, speaking, or a scientific or technical consulting enquiry. For web and software development work, mug.n.ai is the better starting point.
- Emailmugnail@cardiff.ac.uk
- LinkedInin/mugnailorenzo
- GitHubLorenzoMugnai
- ORCID0000-0002-9007-9802
- Google ScholarCitation profile
- Based inCardiff, United Kingdom