2023-07-05 14:15:00
The Euclid space telescope of the European Space Agency (ESA), launched into space on July 1, 2023 to investigate dark matter and energy, has important Spanish contributions.
The Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC), the Institute of High Energy Physics (IFAE, dependent on the Generalitat of Catalonia and the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB)), as well as the Institute of Space Sciences (ICE), in the province of Barcelona and dependent on the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) of Spain, have worked for more than 11 years in the preparation of this mission.
“Euclid will observe billions of galaxies up to distances of 10,000 million light-years, creating a very precise 3D map of a third of the sky”, comments Francisco Castander, ICE researcher, IEEC researcher and member of the Euclid consortium. “By precisely measuring the position and shapes of galaxies in visible light and inferring their distances, Euclid will help us explore how the universe has expanded and how its structure has formed throughout cosmic history, which may reveal more about the role of gravity and the nature of dark energy and dark matter.”
Euclid has a 1.2 meter diameter telescope and two instruments on board: VIS (VISible instrument) and NISP (Near-Infrared Spectrometer and Photometer). The latter is a near-infrared spectrometer and photometer, which has been developed thanks to extensive Spanish participation.
On the one hand, ICE, IFAE and IEEC have been involved since 2006 in the initial concepts of the mission and have been responsible for the design, construction, assembly and validation tests of the Filter Wheel Assembly (FWA). ) of the NISP instrument. This filter wheel is a mobile and delicate space instrumentation device that has required the development of sophisticated high-tech quality control and verification systems.
“The Barcelona group, as we are known within the Euclid consortium, has done a lot of work in our laboratories to make sure that the filter wheel works optimally in the conditions in which it will be operating in space,” says Cristóbal. Padilla, IFAE researcher and member of the Euclid consortium. The filter wheel is a very important element that will allow us to determine the distances of galaxies up to billions of light-years, that is, “it gives us the third dimension,” adds Padilla.
Filter wheel of the NISP instrument during a test in the laboratory. (Photo: ICE/IEEC/IFAE)
The Polytechnic University of Cartagena (UPCT), in collaboration with the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), has been responsible for the design, construction and validation of the control electronics of the NISP Instrument.
“The control unit is in charge of starting the scientific instrument, maintaining the appropriate temperature for its correct operation, controlling the movements of the wheels and the calibration lamp, and monitoring the telemetry that will allow us to react in case of anomalies,” he highlights. Rafael Toledo, researcher responsible for the payload at the UPCT.
In addition, around 80 European companies participate in Euclid, of which 9 are Spanish, including Airbus, Alter Technology, Crisa, Deimos Space, GTD, Navair, Sener and Thales Alenia Space Spain.
Scientific exploitation of Euclid
ICE and PIC (Scientific Information Port), a center managed by IFAE and the Center for Energy, Environmental and Technological Research (CIEMAT), have been responsible for the mission’s cosmological simulations that have served to study its optimization and preparing the software for data processing and analysis. In addition, the PIC is the mission’s scientific data center in Spain.
ICE and IEEC also coordinate the predictions of the mission’s main observable cosmological models.
For their part, the IFAE, the ICE and the IEEC participate in the measurements of redshifts and distortions observed in distant galaxies.
Euclid is made up of more than 300 international institutions and more than 2,000 scientists from 13 European countries, the United States, Canada and Japan, who will benefit for decades from the exploitation of Euclid data to continue deepening knowledge of energy. and dark matter, the acceleration of the universe and the operation of gravity, among other crucial questions of physics and cosmology.
In more than 20 Spanish institutions, there are around 100 scientists preparing the scientific exploitation of the mission to unravel the mysteries of the dark universe.
“The launch of Euclid is just the beginning. It has been more than 11 years of hard work by more than 300 institutions from 13 European countries, the United States, Canada and Japan to get here. The answers we get will benefit the scientific community for decades. Euclid will revolutionize our understanding of the cosmos”, concludes Francisco Castander. (Source: ICE / CSIC)
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