PLATO STARTS CONSTRUCTION

ESA began building its Planetary Transits and Oscillations of Stars (PLATO) satellite this October. The spacecraft is scheduled to launch in 2026 and will study extrasolar planet systems, particularly those with rocky worlds around Sun-like stars. Plato will not only seek to find new planets, but also determine their mass, size and age with unprecedented accuracy to help scientists build a picture of what planetary systems look like throughout the Galaxy.