Europe’s Euclid space telescope to launch on July 1

The European House Company stated on Wednesday its space telescope Euclid is scheduled to launch on July 1, blasting off on a mission to make clear the mysteries of dark matter and darkish power.

The mission will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral in Florida, with the published starting at 1430 GMT, the ESA stated in a tweet.

Euclid was initially deliberate to experience into space on a Russian Soyuz rocket, however final 12 months Moscow withdrew its launchers in response to sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine.

The ESA was compelled to show to its rival SpaceX, the US firm of billionaire Elon Musk, to launch the 1.4-billion-euro ($1.5 billion) mission.

The 2-ton Euclid, which is 4.7 meters (15 ft) tall and three.5 meters (11 ft) huge, will be part of fellow space telescope James Webb at a secure hovering spot 1.5 million kilometers from Earth referred to as the second Lagrangian Level.

From there, Euclid will chart a 3D map of the universe encompassing two billion galaxies throughout greater than a 3rd of the sky.

Euclid’s gaze will stretch out to 10 billion light years away. Due to how lengthy it takes the sunshine from distant stars to achieve Earth, which means it would peer again 10 billion years into the cosmic previous.

The mission will enable scientists to reconstruct the historical past of the 13.8-billion-year-old universe through “slices of time,” astrophysicist Yannick Mellier advised the Euclid consortium earlier this month.

Euclid’s major goal is to raised perceive dark matter and dark energy, which collectively make up 95 p.c of the universe.

The existence of each stays totally theoretical—though additionally obligatory for scientists to assemble a working understanding of the universe.

Darkish matter is invisible, its existence inferred from the movement of objects affected by its gravitational pull.

Darkish power is the title given to the unknown power inflicting the enlargement of the universe to speed up.

Euclid isn’t anticipated to establish the true nature of those darkish mysteries, however astronomers hope its unprecedented view of the universe will make clear how they act and evolve over time.

Euclid’s first photographs are anticipated to roll in shortly as soon as scientific operations begin in October, however it would take scientists longer to sift by way of the huge quantity of knowledge.

© 2023 AFP