The two main parts of Plato arrived in the Netherlands by barge on September 1st from Germany, where it left OHB’s clean room, to join ESTEC’s clean room in the Netherlands.
The assembly of Plato is complete
On September 9th, shortly after its arrival, ESA engineers began installing Plato’s shield and solar panels, suspending them in order to attach them to the service module. They then manoeuvred the suspended solar panels and shield into precise alignment with the rear of the satellite before completing its assembly. These two components are essential to the Plato mission. Once in orbit, the solar panels capture sunlight to generate the electricity needed to power the satellite’s electronic equipment. The shield protects the scientific equipment from sunlight. In particular, the 26 cameras which must be kept at a low temperature of around -80°C throughout the mission.
See the video, PLATO sprays its wing : https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Videos/2025/10/Plato_spreads_its_wings
Testing begins for Plato at ESA facilities
In mid-October 2025, the Plato mission satellite is finally assembled and ready to begin its testing campaign. To determine whether it can be launched safely, Plato will be subjected to intense vibrations and extreme sound levels during vibration and acoustic tests. It will then be placed in the Large Space Simulator (the largest vacuum chamber in Europe) to test its resistance to extreme temperatures and vacuum conditions of space.
The Plato team at LAM
At LAM, a team of 20 people, led by Magali Deleuil (scientific manager) and Chrystel Moreau (LAM project manager), is actively involved in preparing the Plato mission. The LAM team is involved in Plato Science Management, the Plato Data Centre, the Mission Steering Committee, and Performance Support.
The team is working in particular on :
• Preparatory and Follow-up Database Management (PFU), LAM will collect data to complete the Plato entry catalogue: Y. Roehlly, M. Deleuil, F. Agneray, L. Menou, S. Sulis,
• The development of Plato product analysis tools (DAST) : C. Moreau, M. Deleuil, A. Turin
• The development and provision of the exoplanet pipeline module: PlanetPipe, responsible for performing combined transit-radial velocity analysis of future planets, to the Exoplanet Analysis System and building the final mission catalogue : L. Michel-Danzac, T. Wilson, JC. Meunier, Y. Roehlly, N. Michel, S. Hoyer, et S. Grouffal who defended his thesis in September 2025,
• Infrastructure : T. Fenouillet, JC. Lambert
• Algorithms for classifying transit events : M. Deleuil, S. Sulis, H. Vivien, J. Baron who began his thesis in October 2025.
• Participation in the science team for follow-up observation preparation : N. Hara, S. Sulis
• Communication management for French partners : L. Grau
Mission launch in December 2026
The launch of the PLATO telescope is scheduled aboard Ariane 6 in December 2026, heading toward the Lagrange point L2, located 1.5 million kilometers from Earth.
What is Plato’s objective? With its 26 ultra-sensitive cameras, Plato will observe nearly 200,000 stars simultaneously, aiming to detect exoplanets, particularly terrestrial planets within the habitable zone of their star, using the planetary transit method. It will also measure their parameters with the greatest precision using asteroseismology of host stars and ground-based follow-up observations.
