  The discovery of extrasolar planets is one of the major scientific advances
of the last two decades. Hundreds of planets have now been detected and
astronomers are beginning to characterise their composition and physical
characteristics. To do this requires a huge quantity of spectroscopic data most
of which is not available from laboratory studies. The ExoMol project will
offer a comprehensive solution to this problem by providing spectroscopic data
on all the molecular transitions of importance in the atmospheres of
exoplanets. These data will be widely applicable to other problems and will be
used for studies on cool stars, brown dwarfs and circumstellar environments.
This paper lays out the scientific foundations of this project and reviews
previous work in this area.
  A mixture of first principles and empirically-tuned quantum mechanical
methods will be used to compute comprehensive and very large rotation-vibration
and rotation-vibration-electronic (rovibronic) line lists. Methodologies will
be developed for treating larger molecules such as methane and nitric acid.
ExoMol will rely on these developments and the use of state-of-the-art
computing.
