Planck Satellite
Planck Satellite cruising to L2
Copyright: ESA; Photo: ESA/Cluster; Image: ESA/NASA - SOHO/LASCO
Planck was successfully launched on 14 May 2009 at 13:12 UTC, together with Herschel, onboard an Ariane 5 ECA, from Europe's spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. The mission is designed to help provide answers to some of the most important questions in modern science: how did the Universe begin, how did it evolve to the state we observe today, and how will it continue to evolve in the future? Planck's objective is to analyse, with the highest accuracy ever achieved, the remnants of the radiation that filled the Universe immediately after the Big Bang - this we observe today as the Cosmic Microwave Background.
Filamentary structures on large and small scales in the Milky Way
Copyright: ESA/Cluster; Image: ESA/NASA - SOHO/LASC
The Planck spacecraft is 4.2 metres high and has a maximum diameter of 4.2 metres, with a launch mass of around 1.9 tonnes. The spacecraft comprises a service module, which houses systems for power generation and conditioning, attitude control, data handling and communications, together with the warm parts of the scientific instruments, and a payload module. The refrigeration system on Planck has Cryoconnect planar cables.
For more information about Planck, visit the following website.
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