Plato enters special space-like chamber

This timelapse video captures the activities to move Plato into the Large Space Simulator (LSS) at ESA’s Test Centre. Inside the LSS, Europe's largest cryo-vacuum chamber, Plato had to demonstrate that it can withstand the extreme temperatures and vacuum of space.

In the video we see how engineers used a special crane to lift Plato out of a cleanroom through an opening in the ceiling and move it over the top opening of the LSS. Then, the spacecraft was gently lowered into the dark-walled chamber, all the way down to a supporting frame that holds the spacecraft in place.

Once the chamber’s top and side hatches were sealed, engineers began a series of vital tests of the spacecraft under space‑like conditions.

Many of the tests were designed to verify that Plato’s 26 cameras performed as required for achieving the mission’s main goal: to discover potentially habitable, Earth-like planets around Sun-like stars.

In the video, Plato’s delicate cameras are covered with a blanket to protect them from stray dust particles.

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