Netherlands - October 09, 2025 Engineers at the European Space Agency (ESA) have completed the construction of Plato, the space mission designed to search for Earth-like exoplanets, with the final installation of its sunshield and solar panels. The spacecraft arrived at ESA’s Test Centre in the Netherlands, where on 9 September, engineers carefully suspended the combined sunshield and solar panel module and aligned it with the back of Plato, mounting it precisely in place. “With this operation, we have completed the Plato spacecraft. The combined sunshield and solar array module was the last remaining essential part,” said Thomas Walloschek, ESA’s Plato Project Manager. “It is very satisfying to have reached this moment and to see Plato in its final shape.” The sunshield and solar panels are critical for the mission: the solar array will generate electricity from sunlight, while the sunshield keeps scientific instruments in shadow, maintaining temperatures around –80° C for optimal camera performance. Plato carries 26 advanced cameras designed to detect the tiniest variations in star brightness, enabling the search for terrestrial planets orbiting stars similar to the Sun. During testing, engineers verified that the solar panels could deploy correctly, simulating weightlessness and sunlight, ensuring the spacecraft receives the right power levels. Before its planned December 2026 launch on an Ariane 6 rocket, Plato will undergo rigorous vibration, acoustic, and cryo-vacuum tests in Europe’s Large Space Simulator to prove it can endure the harsh conditions of space. “Plato has a distinctive design, conceived to efficiently integrate its advanced cameras within the spacecraft,” said Ana Heras, ESA’s Plato Project Scientist. The mission will monitor over 150,000 bright stars with high precision, giving scientists an unprecedented opportunity to find habitable worlds beyond our solar system.