William Atkins
Wednesday, 06 May 2009 19:58
Science -
Space
Page 1 of 4
Two missions to study the very beginnings of our Universe are scheduled to launch together from French Guiana on May 14, 2009. Once in space, they take different paths to a point about 930,000 miles from Earth where they will peek into a time when the Universe was merely the age of a baby--only 400,000 million years old.
On May 14, 2009, the two space probes are scheduled to be launched inside an Ariane 5 ECA heavy-lift rocket from the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana. The European Space Agency, or ESA, leads both missions with significant participation from NASA.
After launch, Planck and Herschel will separate from the rocket and follow different trajectories to the second Lagrangian point (L2) of our solar system, a point in space 930,000 miles (1.5 million kilometers) from Earth.
At this point, the gravitational effects of the Sun and the Earth/Moon will not affect both probes. That is, at this point the combined gravitational force from the Sun and Earth/Moon are negated.
The probes will appear to be stationary with respect to both the Sun and Earth. And, they will move in orbits parallel to the Earth around the Sun. The L2 orbit is outside of Earth’s orbit, so they will be 930,000 miles further from the Sun than Earth, which is about 93 million miles from the Sun.
Ulf Israelsson, NASA project manager for both missions, states,
"The missions are quite different, but they'll hitch a ride to space together. Launch processing is moving along smoothly. Both missions' instruments have completed their final checkouts, and the spacecrafts' thruster tanks have been fueled." [NASA: “
Herschel and Planck Missions to Study Cosmos Share Ride to Space”]
HERSCHEL
The mission for the
Herschel Space Observatory, brought to you by the European Space Agency (ESA) but with international cooperation, will study the formation of the Universe in the far-infrared and sub-millimeter portions (between 55 and 672 micrometers) of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Page two continues with more information on the Herschel mission.
