Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




EXO WORLDS
UK joins the planet hunt with Europe's PLATO mission
by Staff Writers
London, UK (SPX) Mar 13, 2014


PLATO (Planetary Transits and Oscillations of stars) was selected by ESA's Science Programme Committee for implementation as part of its Cosmic Vision 2015-25 Programme.

The UK is set to play a leading role in the search for habitable planets orbiting alien stars, following David Willett's announcement 11 March 2014 that the UK Space Agency will invest 25 million pounds in ESA's PLATO mission.

Planned for launch by 2024, the planet hunting mission will see strong involvement from several UK institutes, with Professor Don Pollacco from the University of Warwick providing UK scientific leadership for the European consortium.

With several UK space companies in a strong position to bid for the industrial opportunities that PLATO will produce, the UK's investment in the mission is also set to secure excellent return, generating economic growth and creating new jobs.

PLATO (Planetary Transits and Oscillations of stars) was selected by ESA's Science Programme Committee for implementation as part of its Cosmic Vision 2015-25 Programme.

The mission will address two key themes of Cosmic Vision: what are the conditions for planet formation and the emergence of life, and how does the Solar System work?

Dr Chris Castelli, Acting Director of Technology, Science and Exploration at the UK Space Agency said:

"With strong involvement from our science community and UK industry, PLATO is an important mission for the UK. It's also a very exciting mission, as this is the first time we've been involved in a spacecraft designed to seek out habitable planets like our own."

PLATO will monitor relatively nearby stars, searching for tiny, regular dips in brightness as their planets transit in front of them, temporarily blocking out a small fraction of the starlight.

By using 34 separate small telescopes and cameras, PLATO will search for planets around up to a million stars spread over half of the sky.

It will also investigate seismic activity in the stars, enabling a precise characterisation of the host sun of each planet discovered, including its mass, radius and age.

Professor Don Pollacco from the University of Warwick, said:

"PLATO is the logical next step in our search for extrasolar planets. It will revolutionise our knowledge of rocky planets and will enable the first directed search for life around sun-like stars in the next decade."

When coupled with ground-based radial velocity observations, PLATO's measurements will allow a planet's mass and radius to be calculated, and therefore its density, providing an indication of its composition.

The mission will identify and study thousands of exoplanetary systems, with an emphasis on discovering and characterising Earth-sized planets and super-Earths in the habitable zone of their parent star - the distance from the star where liquid surface water could exist.

The UK and PLATO
The UK, together with other ESA member states, will design PLATO's scientific instruments and finance their development while ESA commissions the spacecraft to be built in European industry. Eleven UK Institutes (Birmingham, Cambridge, Keele, Leicester, Open University, Oxford, Queens Belfast, Queen Mary's London, St Andrews, Warwick, UCL MSSL) have involvement in PLATO and Prof Don Pollacco of Warwick University is the Science Consortium Leader for the mission.

Professor Alan Smith, of the Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London, will lead the Focal Plane Array development for the detection system, with support from Leicester and the Institute of Astronomy in Cambridge.

The Ground System Exoplanet Analysis software development programme is being co-ordinated by Dr Nic Walton at the IoA in Cambridge.

UK industry is well placed to bid for the build of the spacecraft and the development of the sophisticated CCD detectors needed for PLATO's camera.

.


Related Links
UK Space Agency
Lands Beyond Beyond - extra solar planets - news and science
Life Beyond Earth






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








EXO WORLDS
X-ray laser FLASH spies deep into giant gas planets
Hamburg, Germany (SPX) Mar 13, 2014
Using DESY's X-ray laser FLASH, researchers took a sneak peek deep into the lower atmospheric layers of giant gas planets such as Jupiter or Saturn. The observations of the team around lead author Dr. Ulf Zastrau from the University of Jena reveal how liquid hydrogen becomes a plasma, and provide information on the material's thermal conductivity and its internal energy exchange, which are impor ... read more


EXO WORLDS
Spacesuits And Moon Notes Among The Stars At Bonhams NYC Auction

Russia to launch three lunar rovers from 2016 to 2019

Control circuit malfunction troubles China's Yutu

China's Lunar Lander Still Operational

EXO WORLDS
NASA Orbiter Safe After Unplanned Computer Swap

Concerns and Considerations with the Naming of Mars Craters

Lava floods the ancient plains of Mars

Mars name-a-crater scheme runs into trouble

EXO WORLDS
American, two Russians back on Earth after half-year in space

First space tourists to fly around Mars and Venus in 2021

Under shadow of spy scandal, Merkel, Cameron head to tech fair

Mini Rocket Models to be Used in a Big Way for SLS Base Heating Test

EXO WORLDS
"Space Odyssey": China's aspiration in future space exploration

China to launch first "space shuttle bus" this year

China expects to launch cargo ship into space around 2016

China capable of exploring Mars

EXO WORLDS
Japanese astronaut becomes ISS commander

Station Crew Preps for Return to Earth, Repairs Recycling System

NASA says US-Russia space ties 'normal'

Cancer Targeted Treatments from Space Station Discoveries

EXO WORLDS
Launcher assembly begins for Ariane 5 Flight VA218

ILS And ISS Reshetnev Announce Proton Dual Launch Agreement

Arianespace in spotlight at Satellite 2014: expects another record-breaking year

United Rocket and Space Corporation registered in Russia

EXO WORLDS
UK joins the planet hunt with Europe's PLATO mission

X-ray laser FLASH spies deep into giant gas planets

Crashing Comets Explain Surprise Gas Clump Around Young Star

Every red dwarf star has at least one planet

EXO WORLDS
Ultra sensitive detection of radio waves with lasers

Squeezing light into metals

Build me a face in 3D: British man's life 'transformed'

Microsoft hopes 'Titanfall' can boost Xbox One




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.