Athena Coustenis is Director of Research Exceptional Class with the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) of France, based at Paris Observatory in Meudon. She is an astrophysicist with a specialty in space exploration and planetary sciences. Her research is devoted to the investigation of planetary atmospheres and surfaces, their origins and evolution, with emphasis on the habitable conditions in the Solar System and exoplanets. She is involved in the definition, development and exploit