Rocky planets don’t evolve in isolation - their atmospheres and interiors dance together across geological time, shaping everything from Venus’s runaway greenhouse to Earth’s delicate climate balance. Understanding this cosmic choreography is crucial for exoplanet characterization, yet most models treat atmospheric and interior evolution separately, missing the fundamental coupling that determines planetary fate.
PROTEUS bridges this gap with a modular Python framework that simulates the coupled atmosphere-interior evolution of rocky worlds. Named after the shape-shifting Greek sea god, it adapts to diverse planetary environments through its flexible architecture. The framework integrates atmospheric escape, mantle convection, volatile cycling, and surface-atmosphere interactions into a unified simulation engine. Built with modern numerical methods and Bayesian inference capabilities, PROTEUS handles everything from magma ocean worlds to mature terrestrial planets, tracking how interior cooling drives atmospheric evolution and vice versa.
This isn’t just academic modeling - PROTEUS addresses real observational challenges facing JWST and ground-based surveys as they characterize rocky exoplanets. Researchers can explore how different formation scenarios lead to observable atmospheric signatures, test hypotheses about planetary habitability, and interpret spectroscopic data within the context of long-term planetary evolution. With its open-source architecture and growing community, PROTEUS is becoming an essential tool for the exoplanet characterization era.
⭐ Stars: 23
💻 Language: Python
🔗 Repository: FormingWorlds/PROTEUS