European Rocket To Rise From Spaceport In South America
An Ariane 5 heavy lifter rocket will dispense two satellites, Planck and Herschel, into orbit in a liftoff set for May 14 from the European spaceport in French Guiana, South America.
Technicians are loading the satellites into the SYLDA dispenser atop the Ariane 5, according to Arianespace.
After the launch next week, the satellites will be dispensed into orbit. Herschel will be deployed first, followed by the release of Planck. Both payloads were produced by Thales Alenia Space-led industry teams for the European Space Agency (ESA) space science program.
Planck is designed to map the sky in nine wavelength bands, helping to determine the universe’s fundamental characteristics — including the overall geometry of space, the density of normal matter and the rate at which the universe is expanding.
The observatory carries a telescope with an effective aperture of 1.5 meters, which will direct microwave radiation onto the spacecraft’s low frequency and high frequency instruments.
Herschel will be the largest space telescope ever launched, at least for several years. It was conceived to provide astronomers with their best views of the universe at far- infrared and sub-millimeter wavelengths. Data gathered with Herschel’s 3.5-meter-diameter (11.48-foot) mirror will be used to study the formation of stars and galaxies, and to investigate the relationship between the two.
That will be a record-setting mirror size, at least until NASA launches a new U.S. space observatory in the next decade, the James Webb Space Telescope.
The Webb telescope will feature a 6.5-meter (20 feet) aperture primary mirror comprised of 18 beryllium segments that will be the largest deployable telescope ever launched, according to prime contractor Northrop Grumman Corp. [NOC].