Mission to discover habitable Earths given green light

Mission to discover Earth-sized planets and super-Earths in the habitable zone of the solar system - scientifically led by the University of Warwick - given the go-ahead by European Space Agency. PLATO will be launched 1.5 million km into space - and will monitor thousands of bright stars over a large area of the sky, looking for regular dips in brightness as planets pass by them It will investigate seismic activity in some of the host stars, and determine their masses, sizes and ages - with unprecedented accuracy Could lead to discovery of could eventually lead to the detection of extra-terrestrial life A mission to discover and characterise Earth-sized planets and super-Earths orbiting Sun-like stars in the habitable zone of the solar system - scientifically led by the University of Warwick - has been given the go-ahead today by the European Space Agency (ESA). Planetary Transits and Oscillations of stars (PLATO) will be launched into the 'L2' virtual point in space - 1.5 million km beyond Earth, as seen from the Sun - and will monitor thousands of bright stars over a large area of the sky. The satellite will search for tiny, regular dips in brightness as their planets cross in front of them, temporarily blocking out a small fraction of the starlight. The PLATO mission will address fundamental questions such as 'how common are earth-like planets?' and 'is our solar system unusual or even unique?', and could eventually even lead to the detection of extra-terrestrial life.