Plato selfie above Earth (artist impression)

This artist's impression reproduces a close-up view of the European Space Agency’s Plato spacecraft soon after separation from the final stage of the rocket that will take it to space. 

Plato 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 a board an Ariane 6 from , in French Guiana.

Ariane 6 will set Plato on a trajectory to 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: A close-up of the back of a black spacecraft fills the bottom part of the artist impression. The hardware is punctuated by light blue rectangular and trapezoidal panels, and the face of a round antenna covered in silver foil. Earth is visible in the background on the right as a curved section of a sphere, mostly light blue with white clouds and a thin bright-blue haze around it. The rest of the background is black.]