Euclid Space Telescope Launched into Orbit by SpaceX Rocket
On July 1, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket successfully launched the Euclid space telescope into orbit from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The European Space Agency (ESA) observatory, dubbed Euclid, is on a mission to map the “dark universe” like never before.
Spectators at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex cheered and applauded as the Falcon 9 booster carried Euclid into the sky. Eight minutes later, the first stage of the rocket smoothly touched down on a drone ship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
Joseph Aschbacher, the director-general of the ESA, expressed his excitement for the mission during a live webcast following liftoff. He stated, “I’m so excited for this mission now, knowing it’s on its way to Lagrange point 2… amazing, I’m very happy and very thrilled.”
Carole Mundell, the ESA’s director of science, mentioned her priority in ensuring a robust data archive that will last beyond Euclid’s six-year lifespan. She referred to herself as a “custodian,” passing the baton of congratulations to the science communities that will be working on analyzing the data collected by the mission.
Euclid, designed to search for invisible dark matter and dark energy, separated from the rocket approximately 41 minutes after liftoff. It is now en route to Lagrange point 2, located 1 million miles away from Earth on the opposite side of the sun. Lagrange points are relatively stable orbits that require a minimum amount of fuel for satellites. Notably, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope also orbits at L2.
Dark matter and dark energy, which constitute most of the universe, cannot be directly observed through light. Scientists track these phenomena through their effects on other objects, such as gravitational lensing. Cosmologists are interested in understanding the behavior of the dark universe to study its impact on the cosmos, including the mergers of galaxies, the expansion of the universe, and the movement of stars.
During its six-year mission, Euclid will use its visible and infrared instruments to map over a third of the “extragalactic” sky, focusing on regions outside the Milky Way. The telescope will gather data on billions of targets, including galaxies and stars, uncovering their movements and chemical compositions. Euclid’s sharp eyes will allow for images four times clearer than those captured by ground-based telescopes, thanks to its location above Earth’s atmosphere.
Euclid has been in development for nearly two decades and was selected by the ESA’s science program committee in 2011. The mission involves a collaboration of over 2,000 scientists from Europe, the U.S., Canada, and Japan. The spacecraft was manufactured by Thales Alenia Space and Airbus Defence and Space.
Originally planned to launch with Arianespace, the mission was switched to SpaceX due to the unavailability of alternative launch options caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Euclid made its way to Florida by boat from Italy before being launched into space.
Euclid will take approximately 30 days to reach its deep-space destination. The first science image is expected to be released in the coming months.