WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesùs.
Gaia's mission aims to pick out celestial objects 400,000 times fainter
than the human eye can see. The 1,000,000,000 pixel camera will map our
galaxy in 3D with an unprecedented accuracy and test Einstein's theory
of relativity with greater precision than before. The Gaia space
telescope, built by Astrium, holds the largest instrument ever created
fully in Siliconcarbide.
Today could change the way we look at the universe. EADS space unit
Astrium is launching the highly-expected Gaia mission from Kourou in
French Guiana. The goal? 3D mapping the stars, thanks to the largest
camera ever made for a space mission.
Astrium’s Gaia telescope begins journey into space to map the stars.
• Gaia, Europe’s most advanced space
telescope has been successfully launched and is now en route towards its
final orbit, the L2 Lagrangian point, to be reached mid of January
• Designed and built by Astrium for the European Space Agency, Gaia will
map the Milky Way in 3D to improve understanding of the origins and
evolution of our galaxy
• Gaia draws on the best in space technology, including Silicon Carbide
for the structure, a billion pixel sensor and cold gas micro-propulsion
The scientific satellite
Gaia, designed and built by Astrium – the world's second largest space
company – has been successfully launched from Kourou, French Guiana
aboard a Soyuz.
Europe’s most advanced space telescope Gaia, built for the European
Space Agency (ESA), will produce a highly accurate 3D map of our galaxy,
the Milky Way, and discover and map objects far beyond its boundaries
so as to improve our understanding of its origins and evolution. The
Gaia mission is also expected to discover hundreds of thousands of
unknown celestial objects, including extra-solar planets and failed
stars, known as brown dwarfs. And within our solar system, Gaia will be able to identify tens of thousands of asteroids.
Gaia draws on the best in space technology and will carry ultra-modern instruments, including the most sensitive telescope ever made.
This cutting-edge equipment draws on unique expertise developed by
Astrium in the field of silicon carbide (SiC) telescopes, such as that
used for the space telescope on ESA’s Herschel mission, as well as for
all the instruments made by Astrium for Earth observation missions.
Through their space programmes, Astrium and its partner Boostec have
created a successful new economic sector. The SiC produced in the French
Midi-Pyrénées region enables Astrium and its partners to produce
exceptional optical payloads for scientific missions and Earth
Observation.
“Gaia is an unparalleled space system: the precision of its
instruments and its technical conception once again prove Astrium‘s
unique expertise in optical payloads,” said Eric Béranger, CEO of
Astrium Satellites. “Mastering these exceptional technologies enables us
to maintain Astrium’s rank as the world leader in the export of Earth
observation satellites.”
Gaia will also use a ‘photographic’ sensor of unprecedented accuracy. The
precision of the measurements taken by Gaia’s optical instruments will
be extremely high. For instance, Gaia would be capable of picking out a
strand of hair from a distance of 700 kilometres –the equivalent of the altitude of Earth observation satellites – by using its huge
focal plane made up of 106 CCD detectors gathering 1 billion pixels.
For its attitude control, the spacecraft will use a cold gas propulsion
system with micro-thrusters, enabling it to remain perfectly stable and
point with the required extreme accuracy.
Gaia will be located at one of the five Lagrangian points in the
Sun-Earth system, at the L2 point. The Lagrangian points in our solar
system are points of gravitational balance where a body such as a
spacecraft orbits around the Sun at the same rate as Earth, thereby
remaining in a fixed position relative to the Earth-Sun line. Located
1.5 million kilometres from Earth, the L2 point is vital for astronomy
observation missions, which require high pointing stability.
About Astrium
Together, pioneering excellence
Astrium is the number one company in Europe for space
technologies and the second in the world. It is the only global company
that covers the full range of civil and defence space systems, equipment and services.
In 2012, Astrium had a turnover over €5.8 billion and 18,000 employees worldwide.
Its three business units are: Astrium Space Transportation, the
European prime contractor for launchers, orbital systems and space
exploration; Astrium Satellites, a leading provider of satellite system
solutions, including spacecraft, ground segments, payloads and
equipments; Astrium Services, the Space services partner for critical
missions, providing comprehensive fixed and mobile solutions covering
secure and commercial satcoms and networks, and bespoke geo-information
services, worldwide.
Astrium is a wholly owned subsidiary of EADS, a global leader in
aerospace, defence and related services. In 2012, the Group – comprising
Airbus, Astrium, Cassidian and Eurocopter – generated revenues of €56.5
billion and employed a workforce of over 140,000.
Effective from January 1, 2014, Astrium
will be integrated into Airbus Defence and Space together with Airbus
Military and Cassidian.
Press contact
Jeremy Close Tel.: +44 (0)1 438
77 3872
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