  Context. The photometric signal we receive from a star hosting a planet is
modulated by the variation of the planet signal with its orbital phase. Such
phase variations are observed for transiting hot Jupiters with current
instrumentation, and have also been measured for one transiting terrestrial
planet (Kepler 10 b) and one non-transiting gas giant (Ups A b). Future
telescopes (JWST and EChO) will have the capability to measure thermal phase
curves of exoplanets including hot rocky planets in transiting and
non-transiting configurations, and at different wavelengths. Short-period
planets with a mass below 10 R_EARTH are indeed frequent and nearby targets
(within 10 pc) are already known and more are to be found. Aims. To test the
possibility to use multi-wavelengths infrared phase curves to constrain the
radius, the albedo and the orbital inclination of a non-transiting planet with
no atmosphere and on a 1:1 spin orbit resonance. Methods. We model the thermal
emission of a synchronous rocky planet with no atmosphere and its apparent
variation with the orbital phase for a given orbital inclination. We assume
that the planet is detected by radial velocity so its orbital period and
minimum mass are known. We simulate observed noisy phase curves and then apply
a procedure to retrieve the radius and albedo of the planet and the inclination
of the orbit. Results. Airless planets can be distinguished from planets having
a dense atmosphere and their radius, albedo and inclination (and therefore true
mass) can be retrieved from multiband observations with MIRI-JWST and EChO in
the 5-15 {\mu}m range. [...] As inclination above 60{\deg} represents half of
randomly oriented orbits, the growing population of short-period
terrestrial-sized planets detected by radial velocity surveys and transits
should offer several nearby promising targets for this method [...]. See full
abstract in the paper.
