PLATO clears decisive hurdle

The European Space Agency has given the green light to build the flight models of the spacecraft and science payload for the PLATO mission to search for extrasolar planets.

PLATO will be launched in 2026 and will search for, detect and characterise Earth-like planets in particular, especially those orbiting Sun-like stars.

The PLATO payload consortium is funded through national agencies, including the German Space Agency at DLR, which has received funds from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action.

Wanted! Earth-like planets in the 'habitable zone' The Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Gottingen is leading the development of the PLATO Data Center, which will process the observational data and measurements on the ground.

"An important feature of PLATO is that the mission will also determine the parameters of stars using asteroseismology to infer the radii, masses and ages of their exoplanets with unprecedented accuracy," explains Laurent Gizon, Managing Director of MPS and coordinator of the PLATO Data Center.

ESA convened the Critical Milestone Review specifically for PLATO to assess the considerable risk associated with the production of the cameras.

Tests with various qualification models took place in cooperation with the PLATO mission consortium and the industrial companies commissioned to build the spacecraft at various European facilities.

In the vicinity of the James Webb Space Telescope Following the launch, currently scheduled for the end of 2026, PLATO will travel to the second Lagrange point of the Sun-Earth system, which is 1.5 million kilometres from Earth.

PLATO will then direct its 26 cameras towards the outer edge of the Solar System and observe more than 200,000 stars during its four-year nominal operational lifetime.

"PLATO will revolutionise our knowledge of exoplanets from gas giants down to Earth-sized planets," says Rauer, looking forward to the PLATO mission phase.