The PLATO mission
Journal
EXPERIMENTAL ASTRONOMY
Date Issued
2025
Author(s)
Rauer, Heike
Aerts, Conny
Cabrera, Juan
Deleuil, Magali
Erikson, Anders
Gizon, Laurent
Goupil, Mariejo
Heras, Ana
Walloschek, Thomas
Lorenzo-Alvarez, Jose
Marliani, Filippo
Martin-Garcia, Cesar
Mas-Hesse, J. Miguel
O'Rourke, Laurence
Osborn, Hugh
Pagano, Isabella
Piotto, Giampaolo
Pollacco, Don
Ragazzoni, Roberto
Ramsay, Gavin
Udry, Stephane
Appourchaux, Thierry
Benz, Willy
Brandeker, Alexis
Guedel, Manuel
Janot-Pacheco, Eduardo
Kabath, Petr
Kjeldsen, Hans
Min, Michiel
Santos, Nuno
Smith, Alan
Suarez, Juan-Carlos
Werner, Stephanie C.
Aboudan, Alessio
Abreu, Manuel
Acuna, Lorena
Adams, Moritz
Adibekyan, Vardan
Affer, Laura
Agneray, Francois
Agnor, Craig
Borsen-Koch, Victor Aguirre
Ahmed, Saad
Aigrain, Suzanne
Al-Bahlawan, Ashraf
de los Angeles Alcacera Gil, Ma
Alei, Eleonora
Alencar, Silvia
Alexander, Richard
Alfonso-Garzon, Julia
Alibert, Yann
Allende Prieto, Carlos
Almeida, Leonardo
Alonso Sobrino, Roi
Altavilla, Giuseppe
Althaus, Christian
Alvarez Trujillo, Luis Alonso
Amarsi, Anish
Ammler-von Eiff, Matthias
Amores, Eduardo
Andrade, Laerte
Antoniadis-Karnavas, Alexandros
Antonio, Carlos
Aparicio del Moral, Beatriz
Appolloni, Matteo
Arena, Claudio
Armstrong, David
Aliaga, Jose Aroca
Asplund, Martin
Audenaert, Jeroen
Auricchio, Natalia
Avelino, Pedro
Baeke, Ann
Baillie, Kevin
Balado, Ana
Ballber Balaguero, Pau
Balestra, Andrea
Ball, Warrick
Ballans, Herve
Ballot, Jerome
Barban, Caroline
Barbary, Gaele
Barcelo Forteza, Sebastia
Barker, Adrian
Barklem, Paul
Barnes, Sydney
Barrado Navascues, David
Barragan, Oscar
Baruteau, Clement
Basu, Sarbani
Baudin, Frederic
Baumeister, Philipp
Bayliss, Daniel
Bazot, Michael
Beck, Paul G.
Belkacem, Kevin
Bellinger, Earl
Benatti, Serena
Benomar, Othman
Berard, Diane
Bergemann, Maria
Bergomi, Maria
Bernardo, Pierre
Biazzo, Katia
Bignamini, Andrea
Bigot, Lionel
Billot, Nicolas
Binet, Martin
Biondi, David
Biondi, Federico
Birch, Aaron C.
Bitsch, Bertram
Ceballos, Paz Victoria Bluhm
Bodi, Attila
Bognar, Zsofia
Boisse, Isabelle
Bolmont, Emeline
Bonanno, Alfio
Bonavita, Mariangela
Bonfanti, Andrea
Bonfils, Xavier
Bonito, Rosaria
Bonomo, Aldo Stefano
Borner, Anko
Saikia, Sudeshna Boro
Borreguero Martin, Elisa
Borsa, Francesco
Borsato, Luca
Bossini, Diego
Bouchy, Francois
Boue, Gwenael
Boufleur, Rodrigo
Boumier, Patrick
Bourrier, Vincent
Bowman, Dominic M.
Bozzo, Enrico
Bradley, Louisa
Bray, John
Bressan, Alessandro
Breton, Sylvain
Brienza, Daniele
Brito, Ana
Brogi, Matteo
Brown, Beverly
Brown, David J. A.
Brun, Allan Sacha
Bruno, Giovanni
Bruns, Michael
Buchhave, Lars A.
Bugnet, Lisa
Buldgen, Gael
Burgess, Patrick
Busatta, Andrea
Busso, Giorgia
Buzasi, Derek
Caballero, Jose A.
Cabral, Alexandre
Cabrero Gomez, Juan-Francisco
Calderone, Flavia
Cameron, Robert
Cameron, Andrew
Campante, Tiago
Campos Gestal, Nestor
Canto Martins, Bruno Leonardo
Cara, Christophe
Carone, Ludmila
Manel Carrasco, Josep
Casagrande, Luca
Casewell, Sarah L.
Cassisi, Santi
Castellani, Marco
Castro, Matthieu
Catala, Claude
Catalan Fernandez, Irene
Catelan, Marcio
Cegla, Heather
Cerruti, Chiara
Cessa, Virginie
Chadid, Merieme
Chaplin, William
Charpinet, Stephane
Chiappini, Cristina
Chiarucci, Simone
Chiavassa, Andrea
Chinellato, Simonetta
Chirulli, Giovanni
Christensen-Dalsgaard, Jorgen
Church, Ross
Claret, Antonio
Clarke, Cathie
Claudi, Riccardo
Clermont, Lionel
Coelho, Hugo
Coelho, Joao
Cogato, Fabrizio
Colome, Josep
Condamin, Mathieu
Conde Garcia, Fernando
Conseil, Simon
Corbard, Thierry
Correia, Alexandre C. M.
Corsaro, Enrico
Cosentino, Rosario
Costes, Jean
Cottinelli, Andrea
Covone, Giovanni
Creevey, Orlagh L.
Crida, Aurelien
Csizmadia, Szilard
Cunha, Margarida
Curry, Patrick
da Costa, Jefferson
da Silva, Francys
Dalal, Shweta
Damasso, Mario
Damiani, Cilia
Damiani, Francesco
das Chagas, Maria Liduina
Davies, Melvyn
Davies, Guy
Davies, Ben
Davison, Gary
de Almeida, Leandro
de Angeli, Francesca
Cabral de Barros, Susana Cristina
de CastroLeao, Izan
Brito de Freitas, Daniel
Cristina de Freitas, Marcia
De Martino, Domitilla
Renan de Medeiros, Jose
Alberto de Paula, Luiz
de Pedraza Gomez, Alvaro
de Plaa, Jelle
De Ridder, Joris
Deal, Morgan
Decin, Leen
Deeg, Hans
Degl'Innocenti, Scilla
Deheuvels, Sebastien
del Burgo, Carlos
Del Sordo, Fabio
Delgado-Mena, Elisa
Demangeon, Olivier
Denk, Tilmann
Derekas, Aliz
Desert, Jean-Michel
Desidera, Silvano
Dexet, Marc
Di Criscienzo, Marcella
Di Giorgio, Anna Maria
Di Mauro, Maria Pia
Diaz Rial, Federico Jose
Diaz-Garcia, Jose-Javier
Dima, Marco
Dinuzzi, Giacomo
Dionatos, Odysseas
Distefano, Elisa
do Nascimento, Jose-Dias, Jr.
Domingo, Albert
D'Orazi, Valentina
Dorn, Caroline
Doyle, Lauren
Duarte, Elena
Ducellier, Florent
Dumaye, Luc
Dumusque, Xavier
Dupret, Marc-Antoine
Eggenberger, Patrick
Ehrenreich, David
Eigmueller, Philipp
Eising, Johannes
Emilio, Marcelo
Eriksson, Kjell
Ermocida, Marco
Escate Giribaldi, Riano Isidoro
Eschen, Yoshi
Espinosa Yanez, Lucia
Estrela, Ines
Evans, Dafydd Wyn
Fabbian, Damian
Fabrizio, Michele
Pedro Faria, Joao
Farina, Maria
Farinato, Jacopo
Feliz, Dax
Feltzing, Sofia
Fenouillet, Thomas
Fernandez, Miguel
Ferrari, Lorenza
Ferraz-Mello, Sylvio
Fialho, Fabio
Fienga, Agnes
Figueira, Pedro
Fiori, Laura
Flaccomio, Ettore
Focardi, Mauro
Foley, Steve
Fontignie, Jean
Ford, Dominic
Fornazier, Karin
Forveille, Thierry
Fossati, Luca
Franca, Rodrigo de Marca
da Silva, Lucas Franco
Frasca, Antonio
Fridlund, Malcolm
Furlan, Marco
Gabler, Sarah-Maria
Gaido, Marco
Gallagher, Andrew
Gallego Sempere, Paloma I.
Galli, Emanuele
Garcia, Rafael A.
Garcia Hernandez, Antonio
Garcia Munoz, Antonio
Garcia-Vazquez, Hugo
Haba, Rafael Garrido
Gaulme, Patrick
Gauthier, Nicolas
Gehan, Charlotte
Gent, Matthew
Georgieva, Iskra
Ghigo, Mauro
Giana, Edoardo
Gill, Samuel
Girardi, Leo
Winter, Silvia Giuliatti
Giusi, Giovanni
da Silva, Joao Gomes
Gomez Zazo, Luis Jorge
Gomez-Lopez, Juan Manuel
Gonzalez Hernandez, Jonay Isai
Murillo, Kevin Gonzalez
Gonzalo Melchor, Alejandro
Gorius, Nicolas
Gouel, Pierre-Vincent
Goulty, Duncan
Granata, Valentina
Grenfell, John Lee
Griessbach, Denis
Grolleau, Emmanuel
Grouffal, Salome
Grziwa, Sascha
Guarcello, Mario Giuseppe
Gueguen, Loic
Guenther, Eike Wolf
Guilhem, Terrasa
Guillerot, Lucas
Guillot, Tristan
Guiot, Pierre
Guterman, Pascal
Gutierrez, Antonio
Gutierrez-Canales, Fernando
Hagelberg, Janis
Haldemann, Jonas
Hall, Cassandra
Handberg, Rasmus
Harrison, Ian
Harrison, Diana L.
Hasiba, Johann
Haswell, Carole A.
Hatalova, Petra
Hatzes, Artie
Haywood, Raphaelle
Hebrard, Guillaume
Heckes, Frank
Heiter, Ulrike
Hekker, Saskia
Heller, Rene
Helling, Christiane
Helminiak, Krzysztof
Hemsley, Simon
Heng, Kevin
Herbst, Konstantin
Hermans, Aline
Hermes, J. J.
Torres, Nadia Hidalgo
Hinkel, Natalie
Hobbs, David
Hodgkin, Simon
Hofmann, Karl
Hojjatpanah, Saeed
Houdek, Guenter
Huber, Daniel
Huesler, Joseph
Hui-Bon-Hoa, Alain
Huygen, Rik
Duc-Dat Huynh
Iro, Nicolas
Irwin, Jonathan
Irwin, Mike
Izidoro, Andre
Jacquinod, Sophie
Jannsen, Nicholas Emborg
Janson, Markus
Jeszenszky, Harald
Jiang, Chen
Jimenez Mancebo, Antonio Jose
Jofre, Paula
Johansen, Anders
Johnston, Cole
Jones, Geraint
Kallinger, Thomas
Kalman, Szilard
Kanitz, Thomas
Karjalainen, Marie
Karjalainen, Raine
Karoff, Christoffer
Kawaler, Steven
Kawata, Daisuke
Keereman, Arnoud
Keiderling, David
Kennedy, Tom
Kenworthy, Matthew
Kerschbaum, Franz
Kidger, Mark
Kiefer, Flavien
Kintziger, Christian
Kislyakova, Kristina
Kiss, Laszlo
Klagyivik, Peter
Klahr, Hubert
Klevas, Jonas
Kochukhov, Oleg
Koehler, Ulrich
Kolb, Ulrich
Koncz, Alexander
Korth, Judith
Kostogryz, Nadiia
Kovacs, Gabor
Kovacs, Jozsef
Kozhura, Oleg
Krivova, Natalie
Kucinskas, Arunas
Kuhlemann, Ilyas
Kupka, Friedrich
Laauwen, Wouter
Labiano, Alvaro
Lagarde, Nadege
Laget, Philippe
Laky, Gunter
Lam, Kristine Wai Fun
Lambrechts, Michiel
Lammer, Helmut
Lanza, Antonino Francesco
Lanzafame, Alessandro
Lares Martiz, Mariel
Laskar, Jacques
Latter, Henrik
Lavanant, Tony
Lawrenson, Alastair
Lazzoni, Cecilia
Lebre, Agnes
Lebreton, Yveline
des Etangs, Alain Lecavelier
Lee, Katherine
Leinhardt, Zoe
Leleu, Adrien
Lendl, Monika
Leto, Giuseppe
Levillain, Yves
Libert, Anne-Sophie
Lichtenberg, Tim
Ligi, Roxanne
Lignieres, Francois
Lillo-Box, Jorge
Linsky, Jeffrey
Liu, John Scige
Loidolt, Dominik
Longval, Yuying
Lopes, Ilidio
Lorenzani, Andrea
Ludwig, Hans-Guenter
Lund, Mikkel
Lundkvist, Mia Sloth
Luri, Xavier
Maceroni, Carla
Madden, Sean
Madhusudhan, Nikku
Maggio, Antonio
Magliano, Christian
Magrin, Demetrio
Mahy, Laurent
Maibaum, Olaf
Malac-Allain, LeeRoy
Malapert, Jean-Christophe
Malavolta, Luca
Maldonado, Jesus
Mamonova, Elena
Manchon, Louis
Manjon, Andres
Mann, Andrew
Mantovan, Giacomo
Marafatto, Luca
Marconi, Marcella
Mardling, Rosemary
Marigo, Paola
Marinoni, Silvia
Marques, Rico
Marques, Joao Pedro
Marrese, Paola Maria
Marshall, Douglas
Martinez Perales, Silvia
Mary, David
Marzari, Francesco
Masana, Eduard
Mascher, Andrina
Mathis, Stephane
Mathur, Savita
Martin Vodopivec, Iris
Mattiuci Figueiredo, Ana Carolina
Maxted, Pierre F. L.
Mazeh, Tsevi
Mazevet, Stephane
Mazzei, Francesco
McCormac, James
McMillan, Paul
Menou, Lucas
Merle, Thibault
Meru, Farzana
Mesa, Dino
Messina, Sergio
Meszaros, Szabolcs
Meunier, Nadege
Meunier, Jean-Charles
Micela, Giuseppina
Michaelis, Harald
Michel, Eric
Michielsen, Mathias
Michtchenko, Tatiana
Miglio, Andrea
Miguel, Yamila
Milligan, David
Mirouh, Giovanni
Mitchell, Morgan
Moedas, Nuno
Molendini, Francesca
Molnar, Laszlo
Mombarg, Joey
Montalban, Josefina
Montalto, Marco
Monteiro, Mario J. P. F. G.
Montoro Sanchez, Francisco
Carlos Morales, Juan
Morales-Calderon, Maria
Morbidelli, Alessandro
Mordasini, Christoph
Moreau, Chrystel
Morel, Thierry
Morello, Giuseppe
Morin, Julien
Mortier, Annelies
Mosser, Benoit
Mourard, Denis
Mousis, Olivier
Moutou, Claire
Mowlavi, Nami
Moya, Andres
Muehlmann, Prisca
Muirhead, Philip
Munari, Matteo
Musella, Ilaria
Mustill, Alexander James
Nardetto, Nicolas
Nardiello, Domenico
Narita, Norio
Nascimbeni, Valerio
Nash, Anna
Neiner, Coralie
Nelson, Richard P.
Nettelmann, Nadine
Nicolini, Gianalfredo
Nielsen, Martin
Niemi, Sami-Matias
Noack, Lena
Noels-Grotsch, Arlette
Noll, Anthony
Norazman, Azib
Norton, Andrew J.
Nsamba, Benard
Ofir, Aviv
Ogilvie, Gordon
Olander, Terese
Olivetto, Christian
Olofsson, Goran
Ong, Joel
Ortolani, Sergio
Oshagh, Mahmoudreza
Ottacher, Harald
Ottensamer, Roland
Ouazzani, Rhita-Maria
Paardekooper, Sijme-Jan
Pace, Emanuele
Pajas, Miriam
Palacios, Ana
Palandri, Gaelle
Palle, Enric
Paproth, Carsten
Parro, Vanderlei
Parviainen, Hannu
Pascual Granado, Javier
Maria Passegger, Vera
Pastor-Morales, Carmen
Paetzold, Martin
Pedersen, May Gade
Hidalgo, David Pena
Pepe, Francesco
Pereira, Filipe
Persson, Carina M.
Pertenais, Martin
Peter, Gisbert
Petit, Antoine C.
Petit, Pascal
Pezzuto, Stefania
Pichierri, Gabriele
Pietrinferni, Adriano
Pinheiro, Fernando
Pinsonneault, Marc
Plachy, Emese
Plasson, Philippe
Plez, Bertrand
Poppenhaeger, Katja
Poretti, Ennio
Portaluri, Elisa
Portell, Jordi
Porto de Mello, Gustavo Frederico
Poyatos, Julien
Pozuelos, Francisco J.
Moroni, Pier Giorgio Prada
Pricopi, Dumitru
Prisinzano, Loredana
Quade, Matthias
Quirrenbach, Andreas
Reina, Julio Arturo Rabanal
Rabello Soares, Maria Cristina
Raimondo, Gabriella
Rainer, Monica
Ramon Rodon, Jose
Ramon-Ballesta, Alejandro
Ramos Zapata, Gonzalo
Raetz, Stefanie
Rauterberg, Christoph
Redman, Bob
Redmer, Ronald
Reese, Daniel
Regibo, Sara
Reiners, Ansgar
Reinhold, Timo
Renie, Christian
Ribas, Ignasi
Ribeiro, Sergio
Ricciardi, Thiago Pereira
Rice, Ken
Richard, Olivier
Riello, Marco
Rieutord, Michel
Ripepi, Vincenzo
Rixon, Guy
Rockstein, Steve
Rodon Ortiz, Jose Ramon
Rodrigo Rodriguez, Maria Teresa
Rodriguez Amor, Alberto
Rodriguez Diaz, Luisa Fernanda
Garcia, Juan Pablo Rodriguez
Rodriguez-Gomez, Julio
Roehlly, Yannick
Roig, Fernando
Rojas-Ayala, Barbara
Rolf, Tobias
Rorsted, Jakob Lysgaard
Rosado, Hugo
Rosotti, Giovanni
Roth, Olivier
Roth, Markus
Rousseau, Alex
Roxburgh, Ian
Roy, Fabrice
Royer, Pierre
Ruane, Kirk
Mastropasqua, Sergio Rufini
de Galarreta, Claudia Ruiz
Russi, Andrea
Saar, Steven
Saillenfest, Melaine
Salaris, Maurizio
Salmon, Sebastien
Saltas, Ippocratis
Samadi, Reza
Samadi, Aunia
Samra, Dominic
da Silva, Tiago Sanches
Sanchez Carrasco, Miguel Andres
Santerne, Alexandre
Santiago Pe, Amaia
Santoli, Francesco
Santos, Angela R. G.
Mesa, Rosario Sanz
Sarro, Luis Manuel
Scandariato, Gaetano
Schaefer, Martin
Schlafly, Edward
Schmider, Francois-Xavier
Schneider, Jean
Schou, Jesper
Schunker, Hannah
Schwarzkopf, Gabriel Jorg
Serenelli, Aldo
Seynaeve, Dries
Shan, Yutong
Shapiro, Alexander
Shipman, Russel
Sicilia, Daniela
Sierra Sanmartin, Maria Angeles
Sigot, Axelle
Silliman, Kyle
Silvotti, Roberto
Simon, Attila E.
Napoli, Ricardo Simoyama
Skarka, Marek
Smalley, Barry
Smiljanic, Rodolfo
Smit, Samuel
Smith, Alexis
Smith, Leigh
Snellen, Ignas
Sodor, Adam
Sohl, Frank
Solanki, Sami K.
Sortino, Francesca
Sousa, Sergio
Southworth, John
Souto, Diogo
Sozzetti, Alessandro
Stamatellos, Dimitris
Stassun, Keivan
Steller, Manfred
Stello, Dennis
Stelzer, Beate
Stiebeler, Ulrike
Stokholm, Amalie
Storelvmo, Trude
Strassmeier, Klaus
Strom, Paul Anthony
Strugarek, Antoine
Sulis, Sophia
Svanda, Michal
Szabados, Laszlo
Szabo, Robert
Szabo, Gyula M.
Szuszkiewicz, Ewa
Talens, Geert Jan
Teti, Daniele
Theisen, Tom
Thevenin, Frederic
Thoul, Anne
Tiphene, Didier
Titz-Weider, Ruth
Tkachenko, Andrew
Tomecki, Daniel
Tonfat, Jorge
Tosi, Nicola
Trampedach, Regner
Traven, Gregor
Triaud, Amaury
Tronnes, Reidar
Tsantaki, Maria
Tschentscher, Matthias
Turin, Arnaud
Tvaruzka, Adam
Ulmer, Bernd
Ulmer-Moll, Solene
Ulusoy, Ceren
Umbriaco, Gabriele
Valencia, Diana
Valentini, Marica
Valio, Adriana
Valverde Guijarro, Angel Luis
Van Eylen, Vincent
Van Grootel, Valerie
Van Kempen, Tim A.
Van Reeth, Timothy
Van Zelst, Iris
Vandenbussche, Bart
Vasiliou, Konstantinos
Vasilyev, Valeriy
de Mascarenhas, David Vaz
Vazan, Allona
Nunez, Marina Vela
Velloso, Eduardo Nunes
Ventura, Rita
Ventura, Paolo
Venturini, Julia
Vera Trallero, Isabel
Veras, Dimitri
Verdugo, Eva
Verma, Kuldeep
Vibert, Didier
Martinez, Tobias Vicanek
Vida, Krisztian
Vigan, Arthur
Villacorta, Antonio
Villaver, Eva
Villaverde Aparicio, Marcos
Viotto, Valentina
Vorobyov, Eduard
Vorontsov, Sergey
Wagner, Frank W.
Walton, Nicholas
Walton, Dave
Wang, Haiyang
Waters, Rens
Watson, Christopher
Wedemeyer, Sven
Weeks, Angharad
Weingrill, Joerg
Weiss, Annita
Wendler, Belinda
West, Richard
Westerdorff, Karsten
Westphal, Pierre-Amaury
Wheatley, Peter
White, Tim
Whittaker, Amadou
Wickhusen, Kai
Wilson, Thomas
Windsor, James
Winter, Othon
Winther, Mark Lykke
Winton, Alistair
Witteck, Ulrike
Witzke, Veronika
Woitke, Peter
Wolter, David
Wuchterl, Guenther
Wyatt, Mark
Yang, Dan
Yu, Jie
Sanchez, Ricardo Zanmar
Zapatero Osorio, Maria Rosa
Zechmeister, Mathias
Zhou, Yixiao
Ziemke, Claas
Zwintz, Konstanze
Bohm, Torsten
Dansac, Leo Michel
Abstract
PLATO (PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars) is ESA's M3 mission designed to detect and characterise extrasolar planets and perform asteroseismic monitoring of a large number of stars. PLATO will detect small planets (down to <2R(Earth)) around bright stars (<11 mag), including terrestrial planets in the habitable zone of solar-like stars. With the complement of radial velocity observations from the ground, planets will be characterised for their radius, mass, and age with high accuracy (5%, 10%, 10% for an Earth-Sun combination respectively). PLATO will provide us with a large-scale catalogue of well-characterised small planets up to intermediate orbital periods, relevant for a meaningful comparison to planet formation theories and to better understand planet evolution. It will make possible comparative exoplanetology to place our Solar System planets in a broader context. In parallel, PLATO will study (host) stars using asteroseismology, allowing us to determine the stellar properties with high accuracy, substantially enhancing our knowledge of stellar structure and evolution. The payload instrument consists of 26 cameras with 12cm aperture each. For at least four years, themission will perform high-precision photometricmeasurements. Here we review the science objectives, present PLATO's target samples and fields, provide an overview of expected core science performance as well as a description of the instrument and the mission profile towards the end of the serial production of the flight cameras. PLATO is scheduled for a launch date end 2026. This overview therefore provides a summary of the mission to the community in preparation of the upcoming operational phases.