ArianespaceAriane 62 Block 2Ariane Launch Area 4, Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana
Ariane 62 Block 2 | PLATO
Launch window
No countdown — this launch time is not yet known to the minute.NET March 2027Add to calendar
Image: ESA/CNES/Arianespace/ArianeGroup/Optique vidéo du CSG–S. Martin
Arianespace's 334th launch · 2nd this year · humanity's 7,542nd orbital launch attempt
Current date is a placeholder or rough estimation based on unreliable or interpreted sources.
Window: Mar 31, 00:00 – Mar 31, 00:00 UTC
Flight preview
PLATO
Plato, for PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars, is a European Space Agency (ESA) mission with 26 cameras to study terrestrial exoplanets in orbits up to the habitable zone of Sun-like stars. Its goal is to measure the sizes of exoplanets and discover exomoons and rings around them, as well as characterise planets' host stars by studying tiny light variations in the starlight it receives.
Astrophysics · Sun-Earth L2 (L2)
Booster
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Updates
News
Plato's electronics ready for space
The European Space Agency’s terrestrial planet hunter Plato has recently completed a series of key tests inside the Maxwell Test Chamber at ESTEC, demonstrating that its electronic equipment is fit to work in space.
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The European Space Agency has awarded a contract to launch its solar storm-monitoring CubeSat on an Ariane 6 rocket. Scheduled for launch in early 2027, the Henon CubeSat will be flown as a secondary passenger alongside ESA’s PLATO telescope, which will be tasked with finding Earth-like exoplanets. According to the agency’s 16 July press release, […]
