ESA selects exoplanet observatory mission for development
Posted: Thu, Feb 20, 2014, 6:54 AM ET (1154 GMT)
The European Space Agency announced Wednesday that it has chosen a proposal to build a spacecraft to search for extrasolar planets, with launch scheduled in about a decade. The Planetary Transits and Oscillation of stars, or PLATO, mission, will feature a spacecraft with 34 independent small telescopes and cameras. The spacecraft will be able to study up to one million stars over half the sky, looking for telltale periodic decreases in brightness caused by exoplanets transiting these stars, a technique used by NASA's Kepler spacecraft and others. It will also monitor oscillations in those stars, providing information on the stars' ages and sizes. The medium-class PLATO mission, selected over several other competing proposals, will launch by 2024 on a Soyuz rocket. The missions' estimated cost to ESA and member states is about one billion euros (US$1.35 billion).
The European Space Agency announced Wednesday that it has chosen a proposal to build a spacecraft to search for extrasolar planets, with launch scheduled in about a decade. The Planetary Transits and Oscillation of stars, or PLATO, mission, will feature a spacecraft with 34 independent small telescopes and cameras. The spacecraft will be able to study up to one million stars over half the sky, looking for telltale periodic decreases in brightness caused by exoplanets transiting these stars, a technique used by NASA's Kepler spacecraft and others. It will also monitor oscillations in those stars, providing information on the stars' ages and sizes. The medium-class PLATO mission, selected over several other competing proposals, will launch by 2024 on a Soyuz rocket. The missions' estimated cost to ESA and member states is about one billion euros (US$1.35 billion).
Related Links:
| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
|
|
news links
|
|
Wednesday, April 1
'I'm really proud': first Black astronaut candidate reflects on historic Moon mission
AFP — 4:08 am ET (0808 GMT) Colorado companies playing part in historic Artemis II lunar mission
Denver Post — 4:07 am ET (0807 GMT) Northrop To Test New Solid Rocket Booster Nozzle
Aviation Week — 4:06 am ET (0806 GMT) How a United Launch Alliance team in Decatur contributed to Artemis II
WHNT-TV — 4:06 am ET (0806 GMT) Virgin Galactic Poised For Delta-Class Spaceship Ground Tests
Aviation Week — 4:06 am ET (0806 GMT) |
