The trail of water and the delivery of volatiles to habitable planets

Abstract

Water is fundamental to our understanding of the evolution of planetary systems and the delivery of volatiles to the surfaces of potentially habitable planets. Yet, we currently have essentially no facilities capable of observing this key species comprehensively. With this white paper, we argue that we need a relatively large, cold space-based observatory equipped with a high-resolution spectrometer, in the mid- through far-infrared wavelength range (25-600~μm) in order to answer basic questions about planet formation, such as where the Earth got its water, how giant planets and planetesimals grow, and whether water is generally available to planets forming in the habitable zone of their host stars.