Ariane 62 Launch of PLATO Space Telescope

European Space Agency’s PLATO (PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars) space telescope will search for planetary transits across 1M stars to discover and characterize rocky extrasolar planets with a focus on Earth-like planets in the habitable zone around Sun-like stars where water can exist in a liquid state.

Launch Date: Not yet scheduled but may occur in 2026