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

Ariane 62

Family:
Configuration: 62

The Ariane 6 family is currently under development by the European Space Agency, with two variations including the Ariane 62 with two solid boosters intended for government and scientific missions.

See Details
Specifications
  • Stages
    2
  • Length
    63.0 m
  • Diameter
    5.4 m
  • Fairing Diameter
    5.4 m
  • Launch Mass
    530.0 T
  • Thrust
    10370.0 kN
Family
  • Name
    Ariane 62
  • Family
  • Variant
    62
  • Alias
  • Full Name
    Ariane 62
Payload Capacity
  • Launch Cost
    $85000000
  • Low Earth Orbit
    10350.0 kg
  • Geostationary Transfer Orbit
    5000.0 kg
  • Direct Geostationary
  • Sun-Synchronous Capacity
    6450.0 kg

ArianeGroup

ArianeGroup

(AG)

CEO: Martin Sion 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

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…

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

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’s dialogue

From the ESA Blogs.

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…

Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana

Ariane Launch Area 4


Electron
Success
1 day, 17 hours ago
Raise and Shine (RAISE-4)
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1B - Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand

RAISE-4 (RApid Innovative payload demonstration Satellite-4) is a Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) satellite for on-orbit demonstrations of …


Kuaizhou 11
Success
2 days, 19 hours ago
DEAR-5
Launch Area 95A - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

DEAR-5 is a commercial in-orbit payload and micro-gravity experiments hosting spacecraft developed by Chinese commercial company AZSPACE for various …


Long March 12
Success
3 days, 21 hours ago
SatNet LEO Group 16
Commercial LC-2 - Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China

A batch of Low Earth Orbit communication satellites for the Chinese state owned SatNet constellation operated by the China Satellite Network Group. …


Falcon 9
Success
3 days, 22 hours ago
Starlink Group 6-90
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

A batch of 29 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Falcon 9
Success
5 days, 9 hours ago
Starlink Group 15-11
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

A batch of 27 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Kinetica 1
Success
5 days, 16 hours ago
9 satellites
Launch Area 130 - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Share ride of 9 satellites to sun-synchronous orbit: * Satellite 813 (United Arab Emirates) * Jilin-1 Gaofen 07B-01/07C-01/07D-01 * Dongpo-15 …


Falcon 9
Success
6 days, 1 hour ago
NROL-77
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

Classified payload for the US National Reconnaissance Office.


Long March 3B/E
Success
6 days, 5 hours ago
TJSW-22
Launch Complex 3 (LC-3/LA-1) - Xichang Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

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


Long March 4B
Success
6 days, 17 hours ago
Yaogan 47
Launch Area 94 (SLS-2 / 603) - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

The Yaogan 47 is a Chinese military “remote sensing” satellite of unknown purposes.


Falcon 9
Success
6 days, 22 hours ago
Starlink Group 6-92
Launch Complex 39A - Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

A batch of 29 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.