Euclid receives solar panels and heat shield

Thales Alenia Space specialists have successfully installed solar panels and a heat shield on the Euclid telescope. This was another important step towards the launch of the mission scheduled for next year.

Assembling the Euclid telescope

The assembly of Euclid began in 2020. After installing the instruments, the payload module successfully passed a number of tests that demonstrated its ability to withstand space flight conditions. The service module also passed similar tests. After that, at the end of last year, they were delivered to the Thales Alenia Space enterprise for final assembly.

Assembling the Euclid telescope. Source: ESA — S. Corvaja

In March 2022, engineers successfully connected the service module and the payload module. Now the telescope has received solar panels and a heat shield. At the moment, engineers only need to install an antenna on Euclid — and its assembly will be completed. After this, the telescope will undergo a series of final tests, and then it will be prepared for transportation to the Kourou cosmodrome in French Guiana. Currently, the launch of the telescope is scheduled for 2023.

Goals and objectives of the Euclid telescope

The Euclid telescope is designed to study the history of the expansion of the Universe, the formation of its large-scale structures, the distribution of mysterious dark matter and dark energy. For this, it will carry out high-precision measurements of the redshifts of distant galaxies (within a radius of up to 10 billion light-years from the Milky Way). Updated data on the relationship between redshift and distance will help astronomers better understand how the Universe acquired its current form.

Euclid Observatory in the artist’s image. Source: SA/ATG medialab

To complete the tasks, Euclid received a 1.2-meter mirror. The scientific stuffing of the device is represented by two instruments: the Visible Imaging System (VIS), as well as a spectrometer and the Near Infrared Spectrometer and Photometer (NISP). 

Euclid will be put into orbit around the Lagrange point L₂ of the Sun-Earth system. A new Ariane 6 rocket will be used for the launch.

According to https://www.esa.int

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