Payload
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Schematic figure of one of the cameras of the PLATO spacecraft. Credit: PLATO Mission Consortium |
The key scientific requirement to detect and characterise a large number of terrestrial planets around bright stars determined the design of PLATO's payload module. The module provides a wide field-of-view (FoV) to maximise the number of the sparsely distributed bright stars in the sky with one pointing, and allows the satellite to cover a large part of the sky. In addition, it provides the required photometric accuracy to detect Earth-sized planets and a high photometric dynamic range, allowing astronomers to observe bright stars (mV < 11) as well as fainter stars down to V-magnitude of 16. This performance is achieved by a multi-telescope instrument concept, which is novel for a space telescope.
The payload consists of 24 'normal' cameras with CCD-based focal planes, operating in white light. They will be read out with a cadence of 25 s and will monitor stars with mV > 8. Two additional 'fast' cameras with high read-out cadence (2.5 s) will be used for stars with mV ~4–8. The 'normal' cameras are arranged in four groups of six. Each group has the same field-of-view but is offset by a 9.2° angle from the payload module +Z axis, allowing astronomers to survey a total field of about 2250 deg² per pointing, but with different sensitivities over the field.
The ensemble of instruments is mounted on an optical bench. The cameras are based on a fully dioptric design with 6 lenses. Each camera has an 1100 deg² field-of-view and a pupil diameter of 120 mm and is equipped with a focal plane array of 4 CCDs each with 4510×4510 pixels of 18 μm size, working in full frame mode for the 'normal' camera and in frame transfer mode for the 'fast' cameras.
Payload Consortium contributions
Principal Investigator |
DLR, Germany |
PMC management
System engineering
Performance monitoring & assessment
Data Processing System
Fast Electronics Unit including Fine Guidance System
Telescope Optical Units thermal hardware
Front-end Electronics of the fast telescopes |
DLR, Germany |
Telescope Optical Units
Instrument Control Unit |
ASI, Italy |
Focal Plane Assemblies
Main Electronic Unit
Contribution to camera integration, testing and calibration |
MINECO, Spain |
Software data processing for the normal telescopes
Contribution to Fast Front-End Electronics
Contribution to camera integration, testing and calibration |
CNES, France |
Optical Ground Support Equipment
Multilayer Insulation |
FCT, Portugal |
Front-End Electronics of the normal telescopes |
UK Space Agency |
Contribution to camera integration, testing and calibration |
SRON, The Netherlands |
Contribution to the Broadband Filtering Coating of the fast telescopes |
SNSB, Sweden |
Router and Data Compression Unit in the Instrument Control Unit
On-board data compression algorithms |
AASA/FFG, Austria |
Camera integration, testing and calibration |
Belgian Federal Science Policy Office |
Telescope Optical Units mechanical structure |
Swiss Space Office |
Last Update: 05 February 2019
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