PLATO mission to launch in late 2026 onboard Ariane 6
January 30, 2025 | Search for Earth-like planets
PLATO mission to launch in late 2026 onboard Ariane 6
Extrasolar planets
This artist's impression shows an imaginary system in which planets orbit a distant, unspecified star many light-years away. The European Space Agency (ESA) will launch the PLATO mission in 2026, operating the space telescope 1.5 million kilometres from Earth to observe at least 200,000 stars in the Milky Way, in search of planets orbiting them. One of the key scientific objectives will be to identify Earth-like planets.
ESA and Arianespace finalise Ariane 6 launch agreement for PLATO
From left: Toni Tolker-Nielsen, ESA's Director of Space Transportation; Carole Mundell, ESA's Director of Science; and Steven Rutgers, Arianespace's Chief Commercial Officer. The launch agreement for ESA's PLATO scientific space mission – for which DLR leads the payload consortium – was signed at the European Space Conference 2025 in Brussels.
Image: 2/6, Credit:
ESA – M. Polo
Europe's search for extrasolar planets
Three ESA missions – and at times also the NASA/ESA James Webb Space Telescope – are currently or will be involved in the detection and characterisation of extrasolar planets. The CHEOPS mission (with DLR contributions to both hardware and science) has been operational since December 2019. The PLATO mission, with its DLR-led payload consortium, will launch in 2026. Three years later, Ariel (Atmospheric Remote-sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large-survey) will conduct a chemical characterisation of a large and diverse sample of exoplanets. Ground-based telescopes also play an important role in the search for exoplanets.
The PLATO space mission will use 26 cameras to search for Earth-like planets around 200,000 stars in the Milky Way, starting in late 2026.
DLR is leading the PLATO payload consortium and supplying readout electronics and data processing electronics.
PLATO will be the first scientific mission to launch onboard Europe’s new Ariane 6 heavy-lift rocket from Kourou.
Focus: Space, exploration, extrasolar planets
On 29 January 2025, the European Space Agency (ESA)'s Director of Science, Carole Mundell; ESA's Director of Space Transportation, Toni Tolker-Nielsen; and Arianespace's Chief Commercial Officer, Steven Rutgers, signed the launch contract for the ESA PLATO science mission. The German Aerospace Center (Deutsche Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) is leading the PLATO payload consortium, developed and delivered the readout electronics and data processing electronics for two mission-critical cameras and is playing a major scientific role in the mission. The German contribution to PLATO is jointly funded by the German Space Agency at DLR, through grants from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BWMK) and with basic funding provided by DLR and the Max Planck Society. The formal signing took place at the European Space Conference in Brussels, Belgium. PLATO will be launched from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana onboard an Ariane 6 with two boosters at the end of 2026.
PLATO stands for PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars. The spacecraft is being built and assembled by the PLATO industrial core team under the leadership of main contractor OHB Bremen, together with ThalesAlenia Space and Beyond Gravity. The Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Göttingen is responsible for the development and operation of the PLATO Data Center (PDC), which supports the calibration and validation of PLATO observations and will generate high-quality scientific data products. PLATO features an unusual design for astronomical observations with a space-based platform: instead of a single telescope with a large primary mirror and a detector in the focal plane, 26 individual lenses with cameras are mounted on an optical bench to expand the field of view.
Seeking Earth-like planets in the Milky Way
PLATO's goal is to detect Earth-like planets that orbit Sun-like stars in the Milky Way and may even have conditions suitable for life. To achieve this, Ariane 6's upper stage will transport PLATO to Lagrange point 2 (L2), located 1.5 million kilometres from Earth along the Sun-Earth line – the same region where the James Webb Space Telescope is positioned, having been launched there by the previous European launcher, Ariane 5, at Christmas 2021. PLATO's observation plan includes monitoring 200,000 stars using its 26 cameras, which will observe overlapping fields of view. The transit method will be used to detect extrasolar planets as they pass in front of the face of their central star, called the stellar disc, causing a slight but measurable dimming of the starlight.
What is Lagrange point 2?
Lagrange point 2 (L2) is located 1.5 million kilometres from Earth, along the Sun-Earth line. L2 is a position in space where the gravitational forces of Earth and the Sun balance in such a way that a satellite can maintain a stable position with minimal energy expenditure. L2 is particularly valuable for astronomy, as space telescopes such as PLATO and James Webb can operate there without interference from Earth's radiation, while maintaining an uninterrupted line of communication with Earth and a clear, permanent view into deep space.
"This mission will bring us closer to answering one of humanity's most important questions: Has life also developed on other planets?", highlights Heike Rauer from the DLR Institute of Planetary Research and Freie Universität Berlin, who leads the payload consortium for the PLATO mission.
Ariane 6's first flight took place in July 2024, with the second flight scheduled for February 2025. The number of launches is expected to increase in the coming months. Ariane 6 is Europe's newest heavy-lift rocket, offering high performance and flexibility at lower costs than its predecessor. The launcher's configuration – featuring an upgraded main stage, the choice of two or four powerful boosters and a new, restartable upper stage – gives Europe greater efficiency and the ability to meet a wide range of mission requirements.
