https://solarsystem.video/videos/watch/2ee6128c-00f1-4503-9bae-0c86e4e34662 Cayman T. Unterborn (Southwest Research Institute) Classifying small exoplanets as rocky, volatile-rich, or iron-enriched is a prerequisite for efficient allocation of atmospheric characterization resources. The Nominally Rocky Planet Zone (NRPZ) provides a framework for this classification by comparing observed bulk densities against the expected density range for volatile-free rocky planets, calibrated from stellar abundance distributions. However, the efficacy of the NRPZ is critically dependent on the precision of the underlying mass and radius measurements. Here, we perform an analytical propagation of observational uncertainties through the NRPZ classification framework for 37 candidate rocky exoplanets with radii below 2 Earth radii orbiting stars with visual magnitudes less than 11. Of these 37 planets, we find 11 of them currently have mass and radius uncertainties to definitively classify them as Mini-Neptunes or Super-Mercuries. The remaining planets, however, require extreme reductions in current mass and radius uncertainties, together, to classify them as either leaning rocky or not rocky. We further quantify the number of orbits needed to be observed for these planets to achieve these lower uncertainties, finding an average of ~2000. We argue that, while possible, this level of intense observation is likely not feasible for many of these planets and that mass-radius models alone are not likely to allow us to classify all but those planets with outlier densities. We propose that only through observations that reveal the presence, or lack thereof, of a significant atmosphere through characterization via JWST or next-generation telescopes will we definitively classify many intermediate density exoplanets as rocky. I will conclude the talk with a comparison of these results to our best-resolved exoplanet system: TRAPPIST-1 and discuss that while many planets may not yield habitable, or even temperate planets, we show that they can still provide utility in our understanding of planets as a whole, and exactly what it takes to build Earth-like worlds. Fri, 10 Jul 2026 21:41:34 GMT https://validator.w3.org/feed/docs/rss2.html PeerTube - https://solarsystem.video https://solarsystem.video/client/assets/images/icons/icon-1500x1500.png https://solarsystem.video/videos/watch/2ee6128c-00f1-4503-9bae-0c86e4e34662 All rights reserved, unless otherwise specified in the terms specified at https://solarsystem.video/about and potential licenses granted by each content's rightholder.