PLATO

Circle Image

Overview

Destination: Sun-Earth L2
Mission: Astrophysics

Sun-Earth L2 Ariane Launch Area 4 Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana

Plato, for PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars, is a European Space Agency (ESA) mission with 26 cameras to study terrestrial exoplanets in orbits up to the habitable zone of Sun-like stars. Its goal is to measure the sizes of exoplanets and discover exomoons and rings around them, as well as characterise planets' host stars by studying tiny light variations in the starlight it receives.

Updates

Nosu • Jan. 30, 2025, 9:49 a.m.

Adding launch NET late 2026


Cosmic_Penguin • Jan. 15, 2026, 2:46 p.m.

NET January 2027.



Cosmic_Penguin • July 5, 2026, 12:16 a.m.

NET March.


Ariane 62

Family:
Configuration: 62 Block 2

Ariane 6 variant with two upgraded P160C solid rocket boosters.

Specifications
  • Length
  • Diameter
  • Fairing Diameter
  • Launch Mass
  • Thrust
Family
  • Name
    Ariane 62
  • Family
  • Variant
    62 Block 2
  • Alias
  • Full Name
    Ariane 62 Block 2
Payload Capacity
  • Launch Cost
  • Low Earth Orbit
  • Geostationary Transfer Orbit
  • Direct Geostationary
  • Sun-Synchronous Capacity

ArianeGroup

ArianeGroup

(AG)

CEO: Christophe Bruneau Founded: 2015 Successes: 0 Failures: 0 Pending: 0

Agency Type:

ArianeGroup (formerly Airbus Safran Launchers) is an aerospace company based in France. A joint venture between Airbus and Safran, the company was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in Issy-les-Moulineaux. It consists of three core arms: aerospace, defence and security.

INFO WIKI

Related News

European Spaceflight

Arianespace Secures Three Ariane 6 Launch Deals in Two Days

During the 17th European Space Conference, held in Brussels on 28 and 29 January, Arianespace was awarded contracts to launch PLATO, Sentinel-1D, and a pair of second-generation Galileo satellites. Arianespace currently has a backlog of 30…

ESA

Plato’s dialogue

From the ESA Blogs.

ESA

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.

ESA

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 complete the spacecraft by connecting its solar panels and sunshield, and carry out a series of criti…

ESA

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 Earth-like exoplanets. Plato is on track for the final key tests to confirm that it is fit for l…

Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana

Ariane Launch Area 4


Falcon 9
Success
1 day, 23 hours ago
Starlink Group 17-52
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

A batch of 24 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Falcon 9
Success
3 days, 19 hours ago
NROL-95
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

Classified payload for the US National Reconnaissance Office.


Long March 6A
Success
4 days, 1 hour ago
TJSW-27A & B
Launch Complex 9A - Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

2 Chinese classified satellites claimed to be for communication technology test purposes. Actual mission not known.


Long March 7A
Success
4 days, 14 hours ago
Tianlian 3-01
201 - Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China

Tianlian is a Chinese data tracking and relay communications geostationary satellite series. The TL-3 (Tian Lian 3) satellites are the 3rd generation…


Falcon 9
Success
1 week, 1 day ago
Starlink Group 17-51
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

A batch of 24 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Starship
Success
1 week, 2 days ago
Flight 13
Orbital Launch Pad 2 - SpaceX Starbase, TX, USA

13th test flight of the two-stage Starship launch vehicle. Second flight of Starship V3. For the first time, Starship will carry 20 V3 Starlink sa…


Kinetica 1
Success
1 week, 3 days ago
5 satellites
Launch Area 130 - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Share-ride of 5 commercial Earth observation and technology demonstration satellites to SSO, including SpaceTY's TY-48. Details TBD.


Long March 3B/E
Success
1 week, 3 days ago
Tianlian 2-06
Launch Complex 2 (LC-2) - Xichang Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Tianlian is a Chinese data tracking and relay communications geostationary satellite series. The TL 2 (Tian Lian 2) satellites represent the second g…


Gravity-1
Success
1 week, 4 days ago
9 satellites
Yellow Sea (launch location 5) - Haiyang Oriental Spaceport

Carried 9 satellites on a share-ride to sun-synchronous orbit. Details TBD.


Falcon 9
Success
1 week, 5 days ago
MRV-1
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

The Northrop Grumman/SpaceLogistics MRV-1 is a mission extension payload including a mission robotic vehicle (MRV) and multiple mission extension pod…