The European Euclid Space Telescope, launched by SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, is on its way to try to shed light on one of science’s greatest mysteries: dark matter and dark energy.
After a “perfect” lift off, on Saturday 1 July, the European Euclid Space Telescope heads to its observation center, where it will try to shed light on one of science’s greatest mysteries, dark matter and dark energy, which make up 95% of the universe but about which we know almost nothing.
The satellite took off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 11:12 am local time, aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from the American company SpaceX. After separating from the missile, it, as expected, fired its first signal.
The two-ton telescope will be located 1.5 million kilometers from Earth. The scientific work should begin in about three months, once the instrument calibration is complete.
Go back in time
“It’s a happy moment to see this mission on its way to its destination,” Josef Ashbacher, Director General of the European Space Agency (ESA) said during the live video. The takeoff was “perfect,” Carole Mundell, director of science at the European Space Agency, lamented. “Over the next six years, we will unravel the mysteries of the dark side of the universe.”
The probe will map the universe in three dimensions, including billions of galaxies, on a one-third part of the sky. The detected distant galaxies would make it possible to go back in time to 10 billion years ago – the time required for their light to reach us.
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