Small exoplanets from PLATO

PLATO (PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars) is ESA’s M3 mission and designed to detect and characterize extrasolar planets by high-precision, long-term photometric and asteroseismic monitoring of a large number of stars. PLATO will detect small planets around bright stars, including terrestrial planets in the habitable zone of solar-like stars. With asteroseismology of their host stars and complementary radial velocity observation from ground-based telescopes, planets will be characterized for their radius, mass, and age with high accuracy. PLATO will provide us the first large-scale catalogue of well-characterized small planets up to intermediate orbital periods, relevant for a meaningful comparison to planet formation theories and to better understand planet evolution. It will make possible comparative exoplanetology to place our solar system planets in a broader context. PLATO will study host stars using asteroseismology, allowing us to determine the stellar properties with high accuracy, substantially enhancing our knowledge of stellar structure and evolution.

PLATO is scheduled for a launch date in Q1 2027. At this point, spring 2026, the payload including 26 wide-angle cameras with 12cm aperture each is finalized and integrated on the satellite platform. Final spacecraft and ground-segment tests will be performed during 2026. This presentation will give an overview of the PLATO science goals, of its instrument and mission profile status as well as the planned data releases.