ESA PLATO mission prepares 2027 exoplanet launch

ESA has announced details of the PLATO space mission and described UK industrial and academic roles supporting it.

• PLATO is the third medium-class mission in ESA’s Cosmic Vision programme and is scheduled to launch in early 2027 for a 4.5-year nominal mission.
• The mission will use 24 normal cameras and 2 fast cameras to study extrasolar planetary systems and stellar oscillations, while UK institutions contribute to science management, electronics, CCD manufacture, data center operations, and spacecraft platform work.
• University of Warwick leads the science management team; UCL MSSL designed and built electronics for the normal cameras; Teledyne e2v manufactures the CCD detectors under contract to ESA; University of Cambridge leads the UK arm of the PLATO Data Center; OHB is the industry prime contractor with Thales Alenia Space UK as a partner.