Euclid (spacecraft)
Artist's impression | |||||||
| Names | Dark Universe Explorer (DUNE) Spectroscopic All Sky Cosmic Explorer (SPACE) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mission type | Astronomy | ||||||
| Operator | ESA | ||||||
| COSPAR ID | 2023-092A | ||||||
| SATCAT no. | 57209 | ||||||
| Website | www.esa.int/euclid euclid-ec.org | ||||||
| Mission duration | 6 years (nominal) 1 year, 11 months and 18 days (in progress) | ||||||
| Spacecraft properties | |||||||
| Manufacturer | Thales Alenia Space (main) Airbus Defence and Space (payload module) | ||||||
| Launch mass | 2,000 kg (4,400 lb) | ||||||
| Payload mass | 800 kg (1,800 lb) | ||||||
| Dimensions | 4.5 × 3.1 m (15 × 10 ft) | ||||||
| Start of mission | |||||||
| Launch date | 1 July 2023, 15:12 UTC | ||||||
| Rocket | Falcon 9 | ||||||
| Launch site | Cape Canaveral, SLC‑40 | ||||||
| Contractor | SpaceX | ||||||
| Orbital parameters | |||||||
| Reference system | Sun–Earth L2 | ||||||
| Regime | Lissajous orbit | ||||||
| Periapsis altitude | 1,150,000 km (710,000 mi) | ||||||
| Apoapsis altitude | 1,780,000 km (1,110,000 mi) | ||||||
| Epoch | Planned | ||||||
| Main telescope | |||||||
| Type | Korsch telescope | ||||||
| Diameter | 1.2 m (3 ft 11 in) | ||||||
| Focal length | 24.5 m (80 ft) | ||||||
| Collecting area | 1.006 m2 (10.83 sq ft) | ||||||
| Wavelengths | From 550 nm (green) to 2 μm (near-infrared) | ||||||
| Resolution | 0.1 arcsec (visible) 0.3 arcsec (near-infrared) | ||||||
| Transponders | |||||||
| Band | X band (TT&C support) K band (data acquisition) | ||||||
| Frequency | 8.0–8.4 GHz (X band) 25.5–27 GHz (K band) | ||||||
| Bandwidth | Few kbit/s down & up (X band) 74 Mbit/s (K band) | ||||||
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The ESA astrophysics insignia for Euclid mission | |||||||
Euclid is a wide-angle space telescope with a 600-megapixel camera to record visible light, a near-infrared spectrometer, and photometer, to determine the redshift of detected galaxies. It was developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Euclid Consortium and was launched on 1 July 2023 from Cape Canaveral in Florida. The mission is named after the ancient Greek mathematician Euclid.
After approximately one month, it reached its destination, a halo orbit around the Sun-Earth second Lagrange point L2, at an average distance of 1.5 million kilometres beyond Earth's orbit. There the telescope is to remain operational for at least six years. The objective of the Euclid mission is to better understand dark energy and dark matter by accurately measuring the accelerating expansion of the universe. The Korsch-type telescope will measure the shapes of galaxies at varying distances from Earth and investigate the relationship between distance and redshift.
Euclid is a medium-class ("M-class") mission and is part of the Cosmic Vision campaign of ESA's Science Programme. Euclid was chosen in October 2011 together with Solar Orbiter. Euclid was launched by a Falcon 9 rocket. On 7 November 2023 ESA revealed Euclid's first full-colour images of the cosmos, which illustrate Euclid's potential to create the most extensive 3D map of the universe. In May 2024, ESA's Euclid mission released images of galaxy clusters Abell 2390 and Abell 2764, star-forming region Messier 78, spiral galaxy NGC 6744, and the Dorado group of galaxies.