European Space Agency Picks Plato Planet-hunting Mission

Posted by timothy on Thursday February 20, 2014 @08:11AM from the in-space-they-don't-mind-if-you-look dept.

kc123 writes "A telescope to find worlds around other stars has been selected for launch by the European Space Agency's Science Policy Committee. Known as Plato (Planetary Transits and Oscillations of stars), the mission should launch on a Soyuz rocket in 2024. The Plato space telescope will prepare the way for scientists searching for alien life by locating the first genuinely Earth-like exoplanets orbiting nearby stars. It will break new ground in astronomy by using a "bug eye" array of 34 individual telescopes. The intention is for this array to sweep about half the sky, to investigate some of its brightest and nearest stars."

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ESA page by Sven-Erik · 2014-02-20 08:18 · Score: 3, Interesting

Here is the ESA Plato page.

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- "Every demand is a prison, and wisdom is only free when it asks nothing." Sir Betrand Russell
Pato's Cave by Da+Cheez · 2014-02-20 09:08 · Score: 2

With a name like Plato, I worry it won't see much other than shadows when searching for stars....
So long? by bulletman · 2014-02-20 10:14 · Score: 2

I'm very glad the project is going forward. But, 10 years?! I have to think the turnaround time could be improved with a little effort, imagination, and courage.
Re:why Soyuz? by hackertourist · 2014-02-20 20:47 · Score: 2

It's an ESA project, for political reasons this will use an ESA launcher. They added a Soyuz launchpad to the Kourou spaceport a few years ago to expand their launcher portfolio on the low end.