ESA's Herschel and Planck space telescopes

[Rick]

ESA readies super-chilled space telescope

The European Space Agency's (ESA) next big project is a step closer to being launch-ready, as scientists in Germany complete the "mating" of Herschel's two most fundamental modules, the cryostat and the service module.

Herschel is an infrared space observatory, scheduled for launch at the end of July 2008. It will carry the largest telescope ever flown in space tuned to study the formation and evolution of stars and galaxies at very long, infrared wavelengths.

More: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/09/20/herschel_building/

[Rick]

Europe's Herschel and Planck space telescopes have finally come together.

The satellites now share a common cleanroom at the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana, from where they will be despatched into orbit on 16 April.

The observatories have been produced as part of a joint programme that has taken more than 10 years to develop and which is worth some 1.9bn euros.

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7926546.stm

[Rick]

Europe's Herschel and Planck telescopes will be launched on Thursday, 14 May.

Officials at the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana have declared the observatories' rocket fit to fly after some earlier technical concerns.

The Ariane 5 launcher will send the telescopes out to a position some 1.5 million km from Earth on the opposite side to the Sun.

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8022612.stm

[Rick]

The European Space Agency's Herschel and Planck space telescopes are set to blast off on 14 May atop an Ariane 5 ECA launcher from French Guiana, the agency reports.

The 'scopes are destined for "L2", the second Lagrangian point of the Sun-Earth system lying around 1.5m km from Earth. ESA explains that this is one of five locations discovered by Joseph Louis Lagrange "where all the gravitational forces acting between two objects cancel each other out and therefore can be used by spacecraft to 'hover'".

More: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/04/30/herschel_planck_launch/

[Rick]

The European Space Agency's Herschel and Planck space telescopes look good to go tomorrow (Thursday 14 May) at 13:12 GMT from the ESA spaceport in French Guiana.

Sitting atop an Ariane 5 ECA, the two vehicles are ultimately destined for "L2", the second Lagrangian point lying around 1.5m km from Earth "where all the gravitational forces acting between two objects cancel each other out and therefore can be used by spacecraft to 'hover'".

More: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/05/13/herschel_planck/

[Rick]

Europe's Herschel and Planck telescopes have blasted into space on an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou in French Guiana.

The satellites are being sent into orbit to gather fundamental new insights into the nature of the cosmos.

The Ariane thundered clear of the launch pad at 1312 GMT (1412 BST) - its flight lasting just under half an hour.

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8050157.stm

[Mike]

Phew!! 

That would have been an expensive firework if something had gone wrogn on launch. Now let's just hope they get to the Legrange points and deploy safely.

[Ian]

$2.5bn firework. The BBC didn't say if it was the ariane heavy lift variant (that had some issues) or not.

[Mike]

Well it worked. We now have a 6 week wait to see if it has all been worth it 

[Ian]

it was the heavy lift variant, said so in Rick's post.

It's time to kick back and chill...

[Rick]

The European Space Agency's Herschel and Planck space telescopes safely blasted off this afternoon at 13:12 GMT from the ESA spaceport in French Guiana.

More: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/05/14/herschel_plank_launch/

[Rick]

The European Space Agency has successfully commanded the Herschel space telescope to open the protective cover protecting its instruments, meaning scientists can get down to the task of observing the universe in far infrared and sub-millimetre wavelengths.

More: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/06/16/herschel_flips_lid/

[Rick]

Europe's new Herschel space observatory has provided a demonstration of its capability with a first image of the iconic Whirlpool Galaxy.

The billion-euro telescope opened its "eyes" to the cosmos last Sunday when a command was given to lift a protective hatch covering the instrument bay.

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8110345.stm

[Rick]

The European Space Agency (Esa) has released a stunning image of the spiral galaxy M51, otherwise known as the Whirlpool Galaxy.

It is a composite of images taken by Europe's Herschel space observatory and the Hubble Space Telescope.

The picture combines views of the galaxy captured at visible and far-infrared wavelengths.

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8127798.stm

[Rick]

Europe's Planck observatory has reached its operating temperature, making it the coldest object in space.

The observatory's detectors have been chilled to a staggering minus 273.05C - just a tenth of a degree above what scientists term "absolute zero."

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8133806.stm