ESA PLATO Exoplanet Mission

ESA's PLATO mission (Planetary Transits and Oscillations of stars) launches in December 2026 aboard an Ariane 6 to the Sun-Earth L2 point, 1.5 million kilometers from Earth. Its unique architecture uses 26 cameras in four groups for simultaneous observation, providing photometric precision that single large telescopes like NASA's TESS cannot match—achieving a 0.1% photometric stability over 90 days. PLATO monitors over 200,000 stars continuously, searching for transiting exoplanets. Its primary goal is not just detection: by measuring stellar oscillations to determine host star ages and masses with high precision, it enables accurate characterization of exoplanet radii, densities, and habitability—beyond what Kepler and TESS achieved. It targets Earth-sized planets in habitable zones of Sun-like stars. The 2,300-kilogram spacecraft has a 9-meter solar panel span; 24 normal cameras and 2 fast cameras. ESA expects PLATO to discover hundreds to thousands of exoplanets over its 4-year nominal mission, including dozens of Earth-sized habitable-zone planets—making it Europe's flagship exoplanet mission for the 2030s, complementing NASA's Roman and Webb telescopes.