That’s the question the European Space Agency (ESA) PLATO (PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars) mission, which launches in 2026 with Irish input, is aiming to answer. The data scientists believe pinpointing the exoplanets most likely to harbour life will come from 26 telescopes all working together. Realta will supply the specialist electronics which will tightly control the temperature of PLATO’s telescopes throughout the life of the mission. Science objectivesDr Gavin Ramsay is a community scientist for the PLATO mission and an astronomer at Armagh Observatory and Planetarium. The Westmeath man’s role in the PLATO mission is to plan where the spacecraft will point its telescopes during the mission.

Source: The Irish Times February 07, 2019 01:01 UTC