Telescope to hunt for Earth-like planets set for 2026 launch

Telescope to hunt for Earth-like planets set for 2026 launch
by Sophie Jenkins
London, UK (SPX) Jul 19, 2024

Europe's upcoming space mission, a telescope designed to search for Earth-like planets beyond our solar system, is scheduled for launch at the end of 2026.

The telescope, known as PLATO (PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars), aims to find nearby potentially habitable planets around Sun-like stars for detailed examination.

The spacecraft will be launched on Europe's new Ariane-6 rocket, which had its inaugural flight last week and was developed at a cost of euro 4 billion ( Pounds 3.4 billion).

Dr. David Brown from the University of Warwick is presenting an update on the mission at the Royal Astronomical Society's National Astronomy Meeting at the University of Hull this week.

"PLATO's goal is to search for exoplanets around stars similar to the Sun and at orbital periods long enough for them to be in the habitable zone," he said. "One of the main mission objectives is to find another Earth-Sun equivalent pair, but it is also designed to carefully and precisely characterise the exoplanets that it finds (i.e. work out their masses, radii, and bulk density)."

In addition to its primary mission of hunting exoplanets, PLATO will also perform stellar science. It will study stars using various techniques, including asteroseismology, which measures star vibrations and oscillations to determine their masses, radii, and ages.

PLATO stands out with its multiple cameras, including one named ArthurEddington after the renowned astronomer and physicist who won the Royal Astronomical Society's prestigious Gold Medal in 1924.

The telescope features 24 'Normal' cameras (N-CAMs) and 2 'Fast' cameras (F-CAMs). The N-CAMs are grouped into four sets of six cameras, each set pointing in the same direction but slightly offset from the others.

This configuration provides PLATO with a large field of view, enhanced scientific performance, redundancy against failures, and a built-in method to identify 'false positive' signals that could mimic an exoplanet transit, Dr. Brown explained.

"The planned observing strategy is to stare at two patches of sky, one in the North and one in the South, for two years each," he added. "The Southern patch of sky has been chosen, while the Northern patch won't be confirmed for another few years."

Several spacecraft components are nearing the end of their manufacturing and calibration tests, including the UK-provided Front-End Electronics (FEE) for the N-CAMs.

These components, built by the Mullard Space Science Laboratory at University College London, operate the cameras, digitize the images, and transfer them to the onboard data processing system.

Ten of the final cameras have been built and tested, with the first of these mounted onto the optical bench-the structure that keeps all cameras pointed correctly-earlier this year.

The mission is on track to launch in December 2026.