Plato’s spacecraft is complete

Photo of ESA’s Plato spacecraft in one of the cleanrooms at ESA’s Test Centre, taken shortly after engineers fitted the combined sunshield and solar array module.

The spacecraft is now complete.

Plato will use its 26 cameras to discover terrestrial exoplanets in orbit up to the habitable zone of Sun-like stars, and to study these stars.

In this photo a blue blanket covers the cameras to further protect the highly sensitive equipment from stray dust particles.

[Image description: A large satellite is positioned inside a brightly lit cleanroom. The sides of the satellite’s top part are wrapped in gold foil (thermal blankets); the top is covered with a blue blanket. The bottom part consists of a black boxy structure. The spacecraft is mounted on a wheeled platform; various instruments and scaffolding are visible in the foreground.]

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