The SLS plans to concentrate on the two main science goals of SPIRou. The first one is to search for & characterize exo-Earths orbiting in the habitable zones (HZs) of low-mass & very-low mass stars using high-precision radial velocity (RV) measurements (see left figure below). This search will expand the initial, exploratory studies carried out with visible instruments (e.g., HARPS/ESO) and will survey in particular large samples of stars mostly out of reach of existing instruments. In particular, carrying out a new large-scale survey at nIR wavelengths will boost the sensitivity to HZ exo-Earths by typically an order of magnitude on planetary mass (with respect to existing instruments). SPIRou will also work in close collaboration with space- & ground-based photometric transit surveys like K2/NASA, TESS/NASA, CHEOPS/ESA, ExTrA and later PLATO/ESA (after being launched in 2024) to identify the true planets among the candidates they will discover.

The second main goal is to explore the impact of magnetic fields on star & planet formation, by detecting fields of various types of young stellar objects (e.g. class-I, class-II and class-III pre-main-sequence / PMS stars, protostellar accretion discs) and by characterizing their large-scale topologies. SPIRou will also investigate the potential presence of giant planets around protostars and in the inner regions of accretion discs. In particular, this study will vastly amplify the pioneering exploration surveys carried out at optical wavelengths within the MaPP (Magnetic Protostars and Planets) and MaTYSSE (Magnetic Topologies of Young Stars and the Survival of close-in massive Exoplanets) CFHT Large Programs (LPs). It will also ideally complement the data that ALMA/ESO has just started collecting on planet-forming accretion discs (see right figure below) and dense prestellar cores.

More about the science goals of the SLS in the latest SLS document (restricted access).