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Planetary Transits and Oscillations of stars (PLATO) is a planned European Space Agency space observatory that will use a group of photometers to discover and characterize rocky extrasolar planets of all sizes around red dwarf stars, yellow dwarf stars like our Sun, and subgiant stars where water can exist in liquid state. == History == PLATO was proposed in 2007 to European Space Agency (ESA) by a team of scientists in response to the call for ESA Cosmic Vision 2015–2025. The assessment phase was completed during 2009, and in May 2010 it entered the Definition Phase. Following a call for missions in July 2010, ESA selected in February 2011 four candidates for a medium-class mission (M3 mission) for a launch opportunity in 2024.〔〔(Cosmic Vision M3 candidate missions presentation event ). Announcement and registration. (21 January 2014)〕 PLATO was announced on 19 February 2014 as the selected M3 class science mission for implementation as part of its Cosmic Vision Programme. Other competing concepts that were studied included the four candidate missions EChO, LOFT, MarcoPolo-R and STE-QUEST.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 url=http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/ESA_selects_planet-hunting_PLATO_mission )〕 The design of the Telescope Optical Units is by an international team from Italy, Switzerland and Sweden and coordinated by Roberto Ragazzoni at INAF (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica) Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova. The design and development is funded by Italian Space Agency, Swiss Space Office and the Swedish National Space Board.〔 In January 2015 Thales Alenia Space was selected to conduct one out of three phase B1 studies for PLATO, defining the system, subsystem and payload aspects of the observatory. PLATO is an acronym, but also the name of a philosopher in Classical Greece; Plato (428–348 BC) was looking for a physical law accounting for the orbit of planets (errant stars) and be able to satisfy the philosopher's needs for "uniformity" and "regularity".〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「PLATO (spacecraft)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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