The European space telescope PLATO of the European Space Agency (ESA), scheduled to start its search for Earth-like planets orbiting Sun-like stars from 2027, has reached an important milestone. In the last few days, two main components of the spacecraft – the payload and the service module – have been joined and tested successfully. PLATO’s international consortium of scientists is led by Professor Heike Rauer, planetary scientist at the Institute of Geological Sciences and the German Aerospace Center (DLR). Freie Universität Berlin is also providing assistance in preparing the data analysis.

The contributions by Freie Universität Berlin to the PLATO mission are supported by the German Space Agency at DLR on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action on the basis of a decision by the German Bundestag (Grants 50OO1401, 50OP2103 and 50OP2104).