The Euclid telescope takes off to explore the dark universe
Several Spanish research centres have an important role in the mission, with a prominent role in the Consortium that has led the mission from its origin
IEEC researchers at the Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC), together with the Institute of High Energy Physics (IFAE), have been responsible for the development of the Filter Wheel Assembly, one of Euclid instruments, and for generating cosmological simulations
The European Space Agency (ESA) Euclid mission will launch into space on Saturday, 1 July, with an alternative date on 2 July, on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Station in Florida, USA. Research teams from the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC — Institut d’Estudis Espacials de Catalunya) at the Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC), together with the Institute of High Energy Physics (IFAE), have worked for more than 11 years on this mission. The launch will be broadcast live by ESA here.
Euclid will help us understand the nature of dark matter and energy which, according to the latest studies, make up around 95% of the matter and energy content in the universe. This dark matter and energy affect the movement and distribution of visible sources, such as galaxies, but do not emit or absorb light. Therefore, scientists have not yet been able to determine what they are. Understanding its nature is one of the most important challenges in cosmology today.
“Euclid will observe billions of galaxies up to distances of 10 billion light years, creating a very precise 3D map of a third of the sky”, comments Francisco Castander, an IEEC researcher at the ICE-CSIC, and member of the Euclid Consortium. “By precisely measuring the position and shapes of galaxies in visible light and inferring their distances, Euclid will help us explore how the universe has expanded and how its structure has formed throughout cosmic history, which may reveal more about the role of gravity and the nature of dark energy and dark matter."
After a month of space travel, Euclid will reach its destination to orbit at the so-called second Lagrange point (L2) of the Sun-Earth system, 1.5 million km from Earth in the opposite direction to the Sun. There, Euclid's solar panels will have the double mission of capturing solar energy to supply it with energy and at the same time blocking sunlight at all times to be able to point its telescope towards deep space, ensuring a high level of stability for its instruments. Then, it will spend approximately two months running various tests to check that all its components and instruments are working properly. Finally, about three months after liftoff, Euclid will begin mapping the dark universe during the six-year that the mission is expected to last.
Spanish contribution to Euclid's instrumentation
Euclid has a 1.2 metre diameter telescope and two instruments on board: VIS (VISible instrument) and NISP (Near-Infrared Spectrometer and Photometer). The latter is a near-infrared spectrometer and photometer, which has been developed thanks to extensive Spanish participation.
On the one hand, the ICE-CSIC, the IFAE and the IEEC have been involved since 2006 in the initial concepts of the mission and have been responsible for the design, construction, assembly and validation tests of the Filter Wheel Assembly (FWA) of the NISP instrument. This filter wheel is a mobile and delicate space instrumentation device that has required the development of sophisticated high-tech quality control and verification systems.
NISP instrument’s filter wheel during the testing process in the laboratory. Credits: ICE-CSIC/IEEC/IFAE.
“The Barcelona group, as we are known within the Euclid Consortium, has done a lot of work in our labs to make sure that the filter wheel performs optimally under the conditions in which it will be operating in space,” comments Cristóbal Padilla, IFAE researcher and member of the Euclid Consortium. The filter wheel is a very important element that will allow us to determine the distances of galaxies up to billions of light years, that is, "it gives us the third dimension," adds Padilla.
The Polytechnic University of Cartagena (UPCT), in collaboration with the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), has been responsible for the design, construction and validation of the control electronics of the NISP Instrument.
"The control unit is in charge of starting the scientific instrument, maintaining the appropriate temperature for its correct operation, controlling the movements of the wheels and the calibration lamp, and monitoring the telemetry that will allow us to react in case of anomalies," highlights Rafael Toledo, researcher responsible for the payload at the UPCT.
In addition, around 80 European companies participate in Euclid, of which 9 are Spanish, including Airbus, Alter Technology, Crisa, Deimos Space, GTD, Navair, Sener and Thales Alenia Space Spain.
Members of the Barcelona Group (ICE-CSIC, IFAE and IEEC) next to the NISP instrument’s filter wheel that will go on board Euclid. Credits: Ricard Casas.
Euclid's scientific exploitation
The ICE-CSIC and the Port d'Informació Científica (PIC), a centre managed by the IFAE and the Center for Energy, Environmental and Technological Research (CIEMAT), have been responsible for the mission’s cosmological simulations that have served to study its optimisation and prepare the software for data processing and analysis. In addition, the PIC is the mission's scientific data centre in Spain. The ICE-CSIC and the IEEC also coordinate the predictions of the cosmological models of the main observables of the mission, which are the effects of gravitational lensing and the grouping of galaxies. Furthermore, the IFAE, the ICE-CSIC and the IEEC participate in the measurements of the redshifts and distortions observed in distant galaxies.
Euclid is composed of more than 300 international institutions and more than 2,000 scientists from 13 European countries, the United States, Canada and Japan, who will benefit for decades from the exploitation of Euclid data to continue deepening our knowledge about dark energy and dark matter, the acceleration of the universe and how gravity works, among others. In more than 20 Spanish institutions, there are around 100 scientists preparing the scientific exploitation of the mission to unravel the mysteries of the dark universe.
Main Image
Caption: Illustration of the Euclid space mission in space.
Credits: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA. Galaxies in the background: NASA, ESA, and S. Beckwith (STScI) and the HUDF Team.
Links
– IEEC
– Video ICE-CSIC, IFAE about Euclid
– Euclid Launch kit [ES],[EN]
– ESA’s Live streaming Euclid launch: 1 July, Saturday, from 16:30 CEST
More information
The Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC — Institut d’Estudis Espacials de Catalunya) promotes and coordinates space research and technology development in Catalonia for the benefit of society. IEEC fosters collaborations both locally and worldwide and is an efficient agent of knowledge, innovation and technology transfer. As a result of more than 25 years of high-quality research, done in collaboration with major international organisations, IEEC ranks among the best international research centers, focusing on areas such as: astrophysics, cosmology, planetary science, and Earth Observation. IEEC’s engineering division develops instrumentation for ground- and space-based projects, and has extensive experience in working with private or public organisations from the aerospace and other innovation sectors.
IEEC is a private non-profit foundation, governed by a Board of Trustees composed of Generalitat de Catalunya and four other institutions that each have a research unit, which together constitute the core of IEEC R&D activity: the Universitat de Barcelona (UB) with the research unit ICCUB — Institute of Cosmos Sciences; the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) with the research unit CERES — Center of Space Studies and Research; the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya · BarcelonaTech (UPC) with the research unit CTE — Research Group in Space Sciences and Technologies; the Spanish Research Council (CSIC) with the research unit ICE — Institute of Space Sciences. The IEEC is a CERCA (Centres de Recerca de Catalunya) centre.
Contacts
IEEC Communication Office
Barcelona, Spain
E-mail: comunicacio@ieec.cat
Lead Researchers at the IEEC
Barcelona, Spain
Francisco Castander
Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC)
Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC)
E-mail: fjc@ieec.cat
Pablo Fosalba
Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC)
Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC)
E-mail: fosalba@ieec.cat