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

This animation offers a preview of Plato’s launch and its first moments in space as a passenger on Ariane 6. We follow Plato’s journey above Earth, up to the moment when the spacecraft separates from the launcher’s final stage.

Ariane 6 will set Plato on a trajectory to the Sun-Earth Lagrange point L2. This is an equilibrium point of the Sun-Earth system that revolves around the Sun together with Earth. It is located 1.5 million kilometres from Earth, in the direction opposite the Sun.

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

Watch also 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.