Article Posted on : - Feb 23, 2010

PARIS (BNS): ESA Thursday announced three science related missions for its future research work.

According to a news release by ESA, dark energy, habitable planets around other stars, and the mysterious nature of our own Sun, have been chosen by ESA as candidates for two medium-class missions to be launched no earlier than 2017.

The missions have been approved by ESA’s Science Programme Committee (SPC). The proposals chosen are namely, Euclid, PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars (PLATO), and Solar Orbiter.

Key aspects of fundamental physics and cosmology will be taken by the Euclid which will continously map the galaxies to unearth the mysteries of the Universe.

PLATO mission will try to unravel the frequency of planets around the stars including the terrestrial planets.

Solar Orbiter would deliver data and photographs of the Sun. The Orbiter would approach the Sun at 62 solar radii.

In the final selection, two out of the above three given strong science cases will be selected for the M-class launch slots.