Space Telescopes galore! Two to L2, one in LEO

by | May 14, 2009 | Seradata News | 1 comment

herschelplanck launch.jpg
credit ESA / caption: after a number of delays Herschel and Planck finally go into space

An Arianespace EADS Astrium Ariane 5 rocket launches the European Space Agency’s Herschel and Planck space telescopes on 14 May from the French Guiana spaceport. Herschel has, at 3.5m (11.4ft), the largest mirror ever launched into space (hear that Hubble!) and with the help of some US technology it will observe the infra-red spectrum while Planck will study the universe’s ancient radiation from the big bang

More images of the launch can be found here along with an animation and even a twitter channel link. Find more animations and an update on the misson’s progress here and read here all about the spacecrafts’ journey to their L2 destination

And then there is some other mission going on to fix some ageing blurry eyed space telescope called Hubble, which, by the way, is an ESA, NASA collaboration. ESA has a 15% share of the project. Further info on the STS-125 mission for Space Shuttle Atlantis crew can be found here at NASA and all over the internet, here, here and here

Hubble SM4 EVA.jpg
credit NASA

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