Herschel and Planck missions to show Baby Universe

William Atkins
Wednesday, 06 May 2009 19:58

Science - Space

Francois Bouchet, a French scientist for the Planck mission, states, “Bolometers are the new kid on the block in space." [Science News: “Planck by Planck” (April 11, 2009, page 16]

Planck’s other instrument is called the Low Frequency Instrument (LFI), which consists of 22 microwave receivers. They will record the polarized light from the CMB radiation at low energies of between 30 and 70 gigahertz (GHz).

Consequently, the Planck mission will be able to observe the result of the Big Bank ten times more precise than ever before attempted.

NASA states, “Herschel and Planck are both ESA missions with important participation from NASA. NASA's Herschel Project Office and Planck Project Office are both based at JPL [Jet Propulsion Laboratory]. A consortium of European-led institutes provided science instruments for Herschel."

"JPL contributed mission-enabling technology for two of Herschel's three science instruments and both of Planck's science instruments. The NASA Herschel Science Center, part of the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, supports the U.S. astronomical community. NASA, U.S. and European Planck scientists will work together to analyze the Planck data."

If these two missions are successful, they will help astronomers to unravel what happened when the Universe first came into existence—the first millionth of a second after the Big Bang.

Astronomers may learn more about matter, dark energy, and the origin of stars and galaxy—and, ultimately why we are living here on Earth in this day and time.

To see how the Herschel and Planck probes will be positioned (configured) inside the payload container of the Adriane rocket, check out ESA’s website “Herschel/Planck Dual Launch Configuration.”