Instruments and Missions (ESO/ESA)

PLATO

Conceção artística do satélite PLATO.

Conceção artística do satélite PLATO. / Artistic concept of the PLATO satellite.
Créditos: ESA/ATG medialab (PLATO); ESO/L. Calçada (fundo)

Start: February 2014
End: May 2031
Website:

https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/plato/home

Coordination:

Principal Investigator: Prof. Heike Rauer (DLR Berlin) since October 2012 

Co-Principal Investigators: Dr. Miguel Mass-Hess (CSIC-INTA), Dr. Isabella Pagano (INAF)  since October 2020.

Former PLATO Consortium Lead: Dr. Claude Catala (Observatoire de Paris) from 2007 to 2012.

 

Portuguese participation:

Board Members: Nuno C. Santos

Consortium members: Susana Barros, Tiago Campante, Margarida Cunha, Olivier Demangeon, Vardan Adibekyan, Elisa Delgado Mena

Scope:

Instruments and Missions (ESO/ESA)

Funding:

Industry – Deimos – ESA – Contract

Prodex

PLATO (PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars mission), is an M3 ESA mission expected to be launched in 2026. It will survey the sky for new planetary systems.

Using the same measuring principle as CHEOPS at a larger scale, its exquisite photometric precision will allow us to detect thousands of new worlds (Rauer+2014). More importantly, it is designed to produce a first potential catalogue of rocky planets in the habitable zone of bright stars, prime targets for detailed characterisation.

Our team has a strong participation in this mission, leading the national contribution and contracts in both scientific and technical sides of the mission. This includes leadership of key work packages (e.g. implementation of the planet candidate ranking algorithms).