Completed PLATO spacecraft is ready for final tests
By fitting its sunshield and solar panels, engineers have completed the construction of Plato, the European Space Agency’s mission to discover…
Mission
PLATO spreads its wings
By fitting its sunshield and solar panels, engineers recently completed the construction of PLATO, the European Space Agency’s mission to discover Earth-like exoplanets. …
PLATO arrived at ESA’s test centre by boat
The European Space Agency’s PLATO spacecraft has safely arrived at ESTEC, ESA’s technical heart in the Netherlands. There, engineers will…
Plato’s eyes meet brain
On 11 June, engineers at OHB’s facilities in Germany joined together the two main parts of ESA’s Plato mission. They used a…
Planet hunter Plato to fly on Ariane 6
Today, the European Space Agency (ESA) Director of Science, Carole Mundell, ESA Director of Space Transportation, Toni Tolker-Nielsen, and Arianespace Chief Commercial…
Mission Profile
The overall PLATO mission profile consists of the following phases: Pre-launch phase, from launch campaign preparation to launch vehicle…
Launch scenario and transfer
PLATO is foreseen to be launched in 2026 from Kourou by a Soyuz 2-1b rocket with Fregat upper stage and…
Operations at the Lagrange point 2 (L2)
Operational Orbit PLATO will perform its scientific observations on a free-insertion, large amplitude, eclipse-freelibration orbit around L2. This orbit is unstable…
Telemetry data budget
The available data volume transmitted by K- and X-band antenna is 435 Gb average per day. The budget is separated…
Spacecraft Design
The PLATO spacecraft is a 3-axis stabilised system with a launch mass of 2165 kg, including consumables, and size of…
The PLATO sky
PLATO has a flexible observing approach. Two observing strategies are reflected in the science requirements, long-duration observation of the same…
Science Operations
For each spacecraft pointing, the list of targets to be observed will be identified and compiled in the PLATO Input…
Data Products
The baseline telemetry budget yields a daily data volume of 435 Gb. The data products will be reformatted into…
Ground-based Observation Programme
After identification of a planet candidate, ground-based follow up observations are needed to confirm and characterise the planetary nature of…
Organisation of Ground-based Observation
Required telescope time for planet mass determinations From the information on the planet yield, the cost of “equivalent precision” radial…
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