Astronomy
PLATO (PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars)
Plato is designed to find and study terrestrial exoplanets in orbits up to the habitable zone of Sun-like stars. It measures planet sizes, searches for exomoons and rings, and characterizes the host stars. Its payload module hosts 26 cameras that detect visible light, two of them faster cameras for brighter stars.
- Operator
- ESA
- Launch vehicle
- Ariane 6 with two boosters (Ariane 62)
- Launch site
- Europe's Spaceport, Kourou, French Guiana
- Target orbit
- Halo orbit around the Sun-Earth Lagrange point L2, about 1.5 million km from Earth; about a month to arrive
- Mass
- About 2,300 kg launch mass of the whole spacecraft (ESA factsheet)
- Altitude
- About 1.5 million km from Earth (L2)
- Duration
- Four years, with possible extension up to 8.5 years
- Schedule
- ESA's current pages place the launch at the beginning of 2027 (January 2027). Earlier 2026 dates are out of date.
Instruments and payloads
- 26 cameras (two of them faster cameras for bright stars)
Primary source: esa.int. Facts checked on 2026-10-10. Dates are the operator's targets and can change; this page does not report launch outcomes.