Planck & Herschel Being Prepped for Launch on an Ariane 5 (2nd Ariane 5 launch this year)

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venator_3000

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<p>&nbsp;</p><p><font face="Arial"><font size="2" color="#000000">Word from ESA:</font></font></p><p><font face="Arial"><font size="2" color="#000000">ESA's Planck spacecraft has arrived at Cayenne&rsquo;s Rochambeau Airport aboard a chartered An-124 cargo jetliner on the evening of February 18th and was transferred to the Spaceport&rsquo;s S1B clean room to join the Herschel space telescope &mdash; which has been in French Guiana since February 12th. </font></font></p><p><font face="Arial"><font size="2" color="#000000">Planck and Herschel will be launched by an Ariane 5 on April 16th, marking the first mission of its kind performed by Arianespace at the service of the international space science community. </font></font></p><p><font face="Arial"><font size="2" color="#000000">The two spacecraft will be deployed in very elliptical orbits, enabling both spacecraft to follow transfer trajectories for their 1.5 million kilometer voyage to the second Lagrange point (L2) of the Sun-Earth system. Thales Alenia Space built both Planck and Herschel for the European Space Agency, working with one of the largest industrial teams ever assembled for this type of project.&nbsp;<br /><br />Planck is equipped with a six-stage cooling system to observe the Cosmic Microwave Background. Astronomers use small fluctuations in the temperature of this radiation to understand both the origin of the universe and the formation of galaxies. The Planck spacecraft will weigh approximately 1,900 kg. at launch, and is to ride in the lower position in the Ariane 5&rsquo;s payload &ldquo;stack.&rdquo; It has a height and maximum diameter of 4.2 meters, and carries a telescope with a 1.5-meter primary mirror. <br /><br />Herschel will have a launch mass of about 3,300 kg., and will be installed in Ariane 5&rsquo;s upper payload slot. The tubular-shaped spacecraft is 7.5 meters high and 4 meters wide and is designed to investigate how stars and galaxies are formed, as well as provide information on how they continue to evolve. </font></font></p><p><font face="Arial"><font size="2" color="#000000">The spacecraft&rsquo;s 3.5-meter-diameter will make Herschel the largest telescope in orbit until the arrival of the James Webb Space Telescope in 2013 (which also will be launched by Ariane 5). Arianespace&rsquo;s April 16 mission with Herschel and Planck will be the second Ariane 5 launch of 2009. </font></font></p><p><font face="Arial" size="2">It's exciting that these two very important science missions will soon be on-orbit. It's also interesting that they will be "car-pooling" to their designated orbits.</font><font face="Arial"><font size="2"><font color="#000000"><br /><img src="http://sitelife.space.com/ver1.0/Content/images/store/7/5/37b458b9-994b-4e04-a563-a950d766d43c.Medium.jpg" alt="" /><br />The above pic shows Planck being moved into the S1B clean room at Europe&rsquo;s Spaceport, joining its &ldquo;sister&rdquo; spacecraft for Ariane 5&rsquo;s upcoming launch &ndash; the Hershel telescope, which is undergoing processing in the background.)</font></font></font></p><p><font face="Arial"><font size="2"><font color="#000000">&nbsp;V3K</font></font></font></p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>
 
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