The Euclid spacecraft, built and operated by ESA, with contributions from NASA, lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 11:12 a.m. EDT (17:12 CEST) on July 1, 2023, beginning its mission to study why the Universe is expanding at an accelerating rate. Following launch and separation from the rocket, ESA’s European Space Operations Centre confirmed acquisition of signal from Euclid via the New Norcia ground station in Australia at 11:57 a.m. EDT (17:57 CEST).
Euclid will observe billions of galaxies out to 10 billion light-years to create the largest, most accurate 3D map of the Universe, with the third dimension representing time itself.
This detailed chart of the shape, position and movement of galaxies will reveal how matter is distributed across immense distances and how the expansion of the Universe has evolved over cosmic history, enabling astronomers to infer the properties of dark energy and dark matter.
This will help theorists to improve our understanding of the role of gravity and pin down the nature of these enigmatic entities.
To achieve its ambitious scientific goal, Euclid is equipped with a 1.2-m reflecting telescope that feeds the two innovative scientific instruments: VIS, which takes very sharp images of galaxies over a large fraction of the sky, and NISP, which can analyse galaxies’ infrared light by wavelength to accurately establish their distance.
The spacecraft and communications will be controlled from ESA’s European Space Operations Centre.
To cope with the vast amounts of data Euclid will acquire, ESA’s Estrack network of deep space antennas has been upgraded.
“The successful launch of Euclid marks the beginning of a new scientific endeavour to help us answer one of the most compelling questions of modern science,” said ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher.
“Euclid has been made possible by ESA’s leadership, the effort and expertise of…
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