The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicProtecting life and infrastructure on Earth and in orbit
Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
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The Plato mission in the context of previous and future space missions dedicated to exoplanet science (top) and exoplanet-sensitive missions (bottom).
Plato, the PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars mission, is a next-generation planet hunter with an emphasis on the properties of rocky planets up to the habitable zone around Sun-like stars – the location from a star where liquid water can exist on the planet’s surface. Importantly, it will also analyse the planet’s host star, including its age, and thus give insight into the evolutionary state of the entire extrasolar system.
Learn more about ESA's exoplanet fleet here