The PLATO Mission Conference 2021: Exploring exoplanets in the habitable zone of solar-like stars will be held from 11 to 15 October 2021 as an online event. This conference aims to present the status of the PLATO mission to the community, both in terms of satellite development and scientific preparation, and to bring together experts working on observations and theory associated with any of the PLATO science objectives.

The major themes of the Conference are:

• PLATO development status
• Selection of the PLATO sky fields and the PLATO Input Catalogue
• Light-curve analysis for detection and characterisation of long-period small planets
• Asteroseismology and stellar characterisation
• Advances in modelling stellar internal structure and evolution
• Stellar activity
• Ground-based observations for the confirmation and mass determination of planets
• Long-period small planets and habitability
• Planetary structure, composition, evolution, and architecture of planetary systems
• PLATO in the context of Kepler/K2, TESS, CHEOPS, JWST, Roman Space Telescope, Ariel, and large ground-based observatories
• Complementary science topics benefitting from PLATO high-precision photometry

For further information please visit the Conference Website.

The Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Goettingen, Germany, invites applications for several research positions in stellar physics and exoplanet science in preparation for the PLATO mission. The positions are available in the Solar and Stellar Interiors Department starting as soon as September 2020 for a period of two years, with the possibility of an extension. The start date is negotiable. In case of travel restrictions due to the coronavirus crisis, remote work may be possible at the beginning of the employment period.

Applications will be reviewed starting 24 August 2020 until the positions are filled.

For more information, click the title of this news item.

The first major review of PSM activity, the L2/L3 Requirements Review, was closed-out on the 9th of March 2020.

This internal review, which was run completely by the PLATO Mission Consortium, assessed the requirements for the L2 & L3 data processing pipelines, the systems that take PLATO light curves and identify planetary candidates, confirm planetary systems, and derive stellar properties.

Although a large number of action items remain to be completed, this review is considered a success by all involved. Thank you to everyone who took part, in any capacity.

The first major review of PSM activity, the L2/L3 Requirements Review, successfully kicked-off on Friday 29th November. This internal review, which is run completely by the PLATO Mission Consortium and has only limited input from ESA, is assessing the requirements for the L2 & L3 data processing pipelines, the systems that take PLATO light curves and identify planetary candidates, confirm planetary systems, and derive stellar properties.

The initial phase of the review concludes on the 20th of December, and the review runs until the end of February 2020.

PLATO ESP2019, "Single, Shallow, and Strange transits", is being held at the University of Warwick, UK, between 2nd and 4th September 2019.

Following on from the first PLATO ESP workshop in Marseille in 2018, this workshop will discuss the photometric signatures produced by unusual transiting objects.

More information can be found at https://platoesp.org/, including a link to the registration form. Spaces are limited!

The PLATO mission consortium has a new website - https://platomission.com/

The new website provides an overview of the PLATO mission, information about the different groups involved, science goals and requirements, development work, mission timeline, etc.

For general information about PLATO, please use the new website. PSM-specific news and updates will continue to be made available through this website.

Brief reports for PLATO Week 4 (Summer 2017) and PLATO Week 5 (Autumn 2017) are now available through the Meetings page. Both PLATO Weeks included a large number of sessions that were relevant to the PSM.

The presentations from these meetings are available from the PLATO Sharepoint (sign-in required). Those relevant to the PSM will be made available through the Meeting Documents page (PSM members only, sign-in required).

The Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço (IA), Universidade do Porto, Portugal will organise the fifth PLATO Week that is scheduled from 24/10/2017 to 26/10/2017. For questions concerning the local organisation please contact pw05@iastro.pt. Please note that attendance is by invitation only.

For more information, please see the meeting website.

ESA's Science Programme Committee have agreed to adopt PLATO into the Science Programme moving forwards. Mission adoption is a big milestone for PLATO, and marks the move from a blueprint mission into a fully-realised concern.

This decision is just reward for all of the hard work put in by the PLATO team over the last several years.

PLATO Week 3 took place at MPSSR in Göttingen between the 13th and 15th of March 2017. There were many sessions of relevance to the PSM:

• An overview of PSM activities since the last meeting, presented by the PSM Coordinator, Don Pollacco.
• A joint PSM-PDC plenary session, which included presentations on the L1 on-ground processing chain, Exoplanet Science and Stellar Science requirements on L1 data, and a working model for interactions between the two bodies.
• A splinter session on candidate ranking and follow-up
• A splinter session on PMC System Wide tools, with reference to PSM tools for content management, version control, action items, and requirement tracking moving forwards.
• A splinter session on the PDC Database organisation
• A splinter session on support tools for data analysis.

The presentations from these sessions, and from all of the other sessions at PLATO Week 3, can be found at the meeting's webpage, and through the detailed information for this news item.

A new paper released today by Dimitri Veras et al. discusses using PLATO to detect a trend for exoplanet frequency to decrease as the host stars of two-planet systems get older.