EuropeInternationalScience

Euclid to Launch July 1 on a Mission to Study Dark Energy

Image: ESA

Euclid, ESA’s dark energy surveyor satellite, is slated to launch July 1 aboard a Falcon 9 rocket, the space agency announced this week. 

Ministry of magic: The spacecraft, named after the Greek mathematician Euclid of Alexandria, will map the cosmos in 3D and study how dark energy shapes the universe. Scientists hope the data will unlock secrets of the universe’s most mysterious and abundant matter.  

The dark arts: In recent years, scientists have observed the universe accelerating its expansion, which would run counter to our current understanding of gravity and physics. This strange phenomenon seems to be the work of a shadowy force, which scientists aptly call dark energy. 

We know only a few things about dark energy: 

  • Dark energy and matter make up a whopping 95% of the universe. 
  • The force does not interact with light—hence the name dark—making it difficult for Earthlings to detect. 
  • Dark energy plays an integral role in forming and structuring galaxies.

Platform 9 ¾: A Falcon 9 will deploy Euclid to a halo trajectory around the Sun-Earth Lagrange point 2 (L2), accompanying JWST. At a distance of ~1.5M km beyond Earth’s orbit, it will take optical and near-infrared images of billions of galaxies across a third of the sky.

Related Stories
EuropeInternationalStartupsVC/PE

Defense Drives EU Space Funding to Record Highs

Grab a bucket. It’s raining cash in Europe.  

EuropePolicy

ESA Watch: 2040 Vision Takes Center Stage in Paris 

ESA is thinking big in Technology 2040, a new report that provides a roadmap for the region’s future in space over the next ~15 years.

EuropeLunarMoon

Venturi Space Unveils its All-European Rover

A tangible example of Europe’s efforts to achieve technological independence at home—and on another world.

Deep SpaceEuropeStartups

For Pulsar Fusion, Business is Bigger in Texas

UK nuclear propulsion startup Pulsar Fusion has dreams of ferrying rockets to the Moon, Mars, and Saturn—but first, they’re headed to Texas.