Airbus signs contract to build ESA's Ariel exoplanet telescope

European Space Agency/Ariel

ESA and Airbus signed the contract to design and build Ariel at ESA headquarters in Paris. Airbus Toulouse leads the satellite's design, manufacture and integration, with Airbus Stevenage handling avionics and electrical design. The Ariel Mission Consortium of over 50 institutes supplies the cooled telescope and instruments.

• Launch was then planned for 2029 on Ariane 6, together with Comet Interceptor.
• Ariel will observe about 1,000 planets in visible and infrared light at once.
• Each planet system can be watched for 10 hours up to 3 days.