EUCLID

THE MISSION

Euclid will explore dark energy and dark matter, the essential but still mysterious ingredients in today’s “Standard Model’ of cosmology. In this model, the majority of matter in the universe is invisible (dark matter), and the universe is expanding at an increasing rate under the action of a still unknown energy source (dark energy). Euclid is optimized to tackle some of the most important questions in modern cosmology: How did the Universe originate and why is it expanding at an accelerating rate, rather than slowing down due to the gravitational attraction of all the matter in it? Euclid comprises a 1.2 m diameter telescope and two scientific instruments: a visible-wavelength camera and a near-infrared camera/spectrometer.

OHB SWEDEN CONTRIBUTION

OHB Sweden has been appointed as supplier of both the chemical propulsion system as well as the fluidic part of the micro-propulsion system.

CUSTOMER/USER

Customer is Thales Alenia Space in Italy with European Space Agency (ESA) as the end customer. Euclid is the second medium-class mission in ESA s Cosmic Vision program. Nearly 1000 scientists from 100 institutes form the Euclid Consortium are building the instruments and participating in the scientific harvest of the mission.

LAUNCH DATE

Euclid lifted off on a Space X Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral in Florida, USA, at 17:12 CEST on 1 July 2023.  The nominal mission lifetime will be 6 years.