Today’s launch of Falcon 9 is to carry a very interesting cargo. This is, of course, the European Euclid telescope, which will observe in the visible and near-infrared part of the spectrum. In the future, it will be possible to create a 3D map of the universe from its data. Scientists are still not sure what dark energy and dark matter actually are. By observing the evolution of the universe over the past 10 billion years, Euclid can reveal how it has expanded and formed over the course of cosmic history—and from this, astronomers can infer the properties of dark energy and dark matter. The Euclid telescope measures 4.7 meters in height, with a diameter of 3.7 meters. It is equipped with a mirror with a diameter of 1.2 meters and two cameras – NISP and VIS. The first mentioned is used for observing the near infrared spectrum and the second (VIS) for the visible spectrum. The first stage of the Falcon that will fly on this mission has only one launch and will attempt to land on the sea platform A Shortfall Of Gravitas, which will be waiting approximately 692 kilometers from the launch site.
Final overview:
Start time and date: July 1 at 5:12 p.m. CET
Start location: SLC-40 Ramp, Mys Canaveral, Floria
Rocket: Falcon 9 Block 5 (B1080 first stage to fly a second time)
Primary load: Telescope Euclid
Cargo weight: 2,160 kilograms
Target: Libra point L2 of the Sun-Earth system at a distance of 1.5 million kilometers from Earth.
First stage: The first stage will attempt to land on the ASOG offshore platform, which will be waiting 692 kilometers from the launch site.
We will start our broadcast about 20 minutes before the start, i.e. around 16:50 CEST. If you’re interested in joining the chat, click on the video title in the upper left corner to take you to the YouTube page for that broadcast.
Sources of information:
https://www.elonx.cz/
https://www.esa.int/
https://everydayastronaut.com/
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2023-07-01 09:36:03
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