Plato detaches from Ariane 6 (artist impression)

The European Space Agency’s Plato mission is set to launch at the beginning of 2027 on a quest to find Earth-like planets orbiting Sun-like stars. The spacecraft will launch aboard an Ariane 6 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport, in French Guiana.

This artist’s impression captures the moment when Plato separates from the last stage of the rocket and starts its journey towards the Sun-Earth Lagrange point L2. This is an equilibrium point in space where gravitational forces and the orbital motion of a body balance each other. L2 is located 1.5 million km from Earth in the direction opposite the Sun.

The spacecraft will approach this point after a one-month journey and then enter orbit around it.

Watch Plato’s trip to L2.

About Plato 
ESA’s Plato (PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars) will use 26 cameras to study terrestrial exoplanets in orbits up to the habitable zone of Sun-like stars. Plato's scientific instrumentation, consisting of the cameras and electronic units, is provided through a collaboration between ESA and the Plato Mission Consortium composed of various European research centres, institutes and industries. The spacecraft is being built and assembled by the industrial Plato Core Team led by OHB together with Thales Alenia Space and Beyond Gravity.

[Image description: At the centre of the artist impression, a black cylindrical spacecraft with folded solar panels is flying over Earth. Earth appears as a curved section of a sphere, mostly blue with white swirls and a thin deep-blue haze surrounding it against a black background. In the foreground, just below the black spacecraft, a section of a white cylinder rises from the bottom of the image, representing the rocket’s last stage.]