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\t\t\t\t\t\t11\/09\/2025<\/span> The European Space Agency\u2019s Plato spacecraft has safely arrived at ESTEC, ESA\u2019s technical heart in the Netherlands. There, engineers will complete the spacecraft by connecting its solar panels and sunshield, and carry out a series of critical tests to confirm that Plato is fit for launch and ready for its planet-hunting mission in space.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The two main parts of the Plato spacecraft were recently joined together\u00a0at OHB’s cleanroom in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany. On 1 September, Plato arrived in the Netherlands by boat from Germany via the Rhine River. The vessel transporting it moored a few km\u00a0away from ESTEC.<\/p>\n From there, Plato was driven to ESA\u2019s centre by special transport, carefully unloaded, and then moved to a cleanroom.<\/p>\n [Text continues below slider]<\/i><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n In the coming weeks, engineers will mount the remaining essential part of the spacecraft: the combined sunshield and solar arrays module.<\/p>\n With the spacecraft complete, testing will begin. To determine that it can be safely launched, Plato will undergo intense shaking and sound \u2018bombardments\u2019 during vibration and acoustic tests.<\/p>\n After these, the spacecraft will be placed into the\u00a0Large Space Simulator\u00a0\u2013 Europe\u2019s largest vacuum chamber \u2013 to verify that it can withstand the extreme temperatures and emptiness of space and work well.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Plato is scheduled to launch on an Ariane 6 rocket in December 2026 on its quest to search for Earth-like planets orbiting stars similar to our Sun.<\/p>\n For this, the spacecraft is equipped with 26 ultrasensitive cameras designed to capture the tiniest variations in the intensity of a star\u2019s light. When planets pass in front of their host stars, they dim the starlight we receive. By capturing and analysing this dimming effect, Plato can spot new exoplanets.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n The mission\u2019s focus is to discover planets that circle Sun-like stars in the habitable zone \u2013 the \u2018goldilocks\u2019 region, where the temperature is just right for liquid water to exist on a planet\u2019s surface. These planets take several months to complete an orbit because of their location: not too close, not too far from their star. To capture them, Plato\u2019s 26 eyes will stare at the same region of the sky continuously for a minimum of two years.<\/p>\n This will also enable Plato to study \u2018starquakes\u2019, encoded in subtle changes of a star\u2019s brightness and provide scientists with unique insights into the interiors and ages of stars.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Like other groundbreaking missions such as Webb and Euclid, Plato will peer into space vastness from an orbit around the Sun-Earth Lagrange point 2 (L2), 1.5 million kilometres away.<\/p>\n From this vantage point, the mission will inspect more than 200\u00a0000 stars over its nominal lifetime and reveal whether the environment we enjoy on Earth can exist also elsewhere in our galaxy.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n About Plato<\/b><\/p>\n ESA\u2019s Plato (PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars)\u00a0will use 26 cameras to study terrestrial exoplanets in orbits up to the habitable zone of Sun-like stars.\u00a0\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n Plato’s scientific instrumentation, consisting of the cameras and electronic units, is provided through a collaboration between ESA and the <\/i>Plato Mission Consortium<\/i>. This Consortium is composed of various European research centres, institutes and industries, led by the German Aerospace Center (DLR). The spacecraft is being built and assembled by the industrial Plato Core Team led by <\/i>OHB<\/i>\u00a0together with <\/i>Thales Alenia Space<\/i>\u00a0and <\/i>Beyond Gravity<\/i>.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n Find out more about Plato<\/p>\n Find out more about Ariane 6<\/p>\n \nContact<\/b>:
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