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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., July 1 (UPI) —
A European spacecraft designed to map the universe by observing billions of galaxy clusters was launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The Euclid spacecraft, carried by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, took off at 11:12 am EDT.
The booster stage of the Falcon 9 rocket separated from the rest of the spacecraft about 2 minutes and 43 seconds after launch. It successfully landed on the “A Shortfall of Gravitas” drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean approximately 8 minutes and 40 seconds after launch.
Prior to the launch, a Space Force forecast indicated that weather conditions would not pose a problem. NASA provided coverage of the $1.5 billion mission on NASA-TV, starting at 10:30 a.m.
The Euclid satellite’s primary objective is to search for and observe phenomena related to dark matter and dark energy, which are believed to exist throughout the universe. As dark matter cannot be detected using instruments designed for electromagnetic radiation, scientists rely on the gravitational effects of massive celestial bodies like galaxies. These effects can be observed through lensing, which involves the redirection of light due to gravity.
By studying lensing effects and the distortion of light sources from distant objects, scientists can gather indirect evidence of the existence of dark matter. The Euclid telescope, reaching a point 1 million miles from Earth and suspended between Earth and the sun, will survey galaxies up to 10 billion light years away. It aims to provide insights into the expansion and structure of the universe over billions of years, as well as the workings of dark energy and dark matter.
Euclid is a European mission led by the European Space Agency (ESA) in collaboration with NASA and a consortium of scientists and institutes from 13 European countries, the United States, Canada, and Japan. Thales Alenia Space served as the prime contractor for building the satellite, with Airbus Defense and Space developing the scientific instruments section and telescope. NASA contributed near-infrared detectors for one of the instruments.
Future plans by NASA involve launching the Roman telescope, similar to Euclid, around 2025. The surveys conducted by both missions will overlap, with Euclid observing the entire area scanned by Roman. Data from Roman’s more sensitive and accurate observations will be used to enhance and refine Euclid’s data over its larger area of coverage.
According to Mike Seiffert, project scientist for NASA’s contribution to Euclid at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, “Euclid’s first look at the broad region of sky it will survey will inform the science, analysis, and survey approach for Roman’s deeper dive.” The combination of data from Euclid and Roman is expected to provide astronomers with a more comprehensive understanding of the universe.
Initially scheduled for launch in the previous year using a Russian Soyuz rocket, the Euclid mission was postponed and collaborati
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