14 DAY TRIAL // The European Space Agency (ESA) has recently received a new series of proposals, concerning the construction of a new planet-hunting space telescope, to be launched within 8 to 10 years. This asset would allow for a sustained pace in exoplanetary detection.
Finding alien planets around distant stars is a very complex task that requires highly-specialized instruments. NASA developed the Kepler Space Telescope specifically for this task, and the spacecraft has thus far discovered over 3,500 planetary candidates.
However, Kepler will not remain in space forever, which is why a new telescope is needed to continue observations. Scientists in Europe say that their proposed mission, called Plato, could be launched between 2022 and 2024, as the next Medium-class ESA space exploration mission.
The European Space Science Advisory Committee has already selected Plato as one of the four remaining candidates for this mission. The ESA Science Program Committee will be the body that decides which of these projects gets the go-ahead. Their meeting is scheduled for February 19-20.
Plato proponents can take heart in the knowledge that the Program Committee has a track record of adhering to the recommendations made by the Advisory Committee, and the latter favors this telescope.
If selected, the European Union would allot approximately €740 million ($1 billion) for this project, including €600 million ($800 million) from ESA. The agency currently has 20 member states that will bear this financial load together.
The remaining €140 million ($190 million) would be provided as science instruments and associated services, primarily by a collaboration of national space agencies and laboratories throughout Europe.
Thus far, Thales Alenia Space and Airbus Defense and Space – both major ESA contractors – have submitted design proposals for the Plato telescope. A final selection of the manufacturer will be made only after the telescope is greenlit for development and launch.
Plato was first proposed for a Medium-class mission in 2007, and again in the intervening years. However, its construction was always shunned in favor of other spacecraft. It remains to be seen whether or not this will happen again at the end of February.
The mission's name is an acronym for PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars. ESA is considering it for an M3 launch opportunity, as part of its Cosmic Vision program. What makes it so appealing is that the telescope will be able to determine the properties of terrestrial planets in the habitable zone around Sun-like stars.