* Astronomy

Blobrana · L

RE: Planck satellite

Blobrana · L

ESA TV Exchanges feed
In about one year, ESA will launch Planck, a satellite to map the cosmic background radiation with unprecedented accuracy. Many features of the early universe are still unexplained, and need assumptions like the existence of "dark energy" to describe the formation of the very first galaxies. Planck is expected to help shedding more light on these mysteries.
This Exchange includes soundbites by NASA scientist George Smoot who received the 2006 Nobel Prize in physics for his work on the cosmic background radiation.

The PDF Script is now online.

WMV preview clip.

The ESA TV Exchanges feed is transmitted by the European Commission's "Europe by Satellite" (EbS) service.

Blobrana · L

Planck mission to study the formation of the universe at a crucial stage.
The European space Agency (ESA) Planck mission to study conditions in the Universe prior to the Big Bang has reached an important milestone.
Instruments central to the mission have now been integrated onto the satellite at Alcatel Alenia space in Cannes, France.

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Blobrana · L

George Smoot wants to know the answers to some big questions.

"I want to know how the Universe came into being, how it developed and what its future might be"

The US Nobel Laureate has spent a large part of his career investigating the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) - the "first light" released after the Big Bang.
Scientists like Professor Smoot study this remnant radiation from the birth of the Universe in the hope of answering some of these questions.

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Blobrana · L

ESA’s Planck satellite, due to study relic radiation from the Big Bang, is on display for the media tomorrow in Cannes. Images of the spacecraft in all its glory will be published on the web at the end of the press conference.
The press conference is organised by ESA and Alcatel Alenia Space (AAS), at the AAS facilities in Cannes, France, on 1 February, to mark the completion of the integration of Planck and to present its technological achievements and scientific objectives.

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Blobrana · L

Planck satellite to be presented to media
By the end of February, integration of Planck, the ESA spacecraft due to study relic radiation from the Big Bang, will have been completed - and so too will a major step towards launch. ESA and Alcatel Alenia Space (AAS) are jointly inviting the media to a press conference to be held at the AAS facilities in Cannes, France, on 1 February to hear about the mission’s technological achievements and scientific objectives and to view the spacecraft in all its splendour.

Press event programme
1 February 2007, 10:00 am
Alcatel Alenia Space
100 Boulevard du Midi, Cannes (France)

Source

Blobrana · L

Engineers are ready to begin integrating the scientific instruments into ESA's Planck satellite. The pair of instruments will allow the spacecraft to make the most precise map yet of the relic radiation left behind by the formation of the Universe.
The integration of Planck's two instruments marks a major milestone for the mission. "We have been working on the design of these instruments for 14 years.

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Blobrana · L

COBE satellite

Blobrana · L

RE: Planck satellite

Blobrana · L

ESA’s Planck satellite builds on Nobel-prize-winning science
The 2006 Nobel Prize for physics has been awarded to Americans John C. Mather and George F. Smoot for their work on NASA’s 1989 Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellite. In 2008, ESA’s Planck satellite will be launched and will build on this award-winning legacy by showing cosmologists new details of the Universe’s origins.
COBE cemented the Big Bang theory of the Universe’s origins but it could not answer every question. In some ways, it raised more than it answered, leaving cosmologists hungry to explore the details of how the Universe began. ESA’s Planck satellite will help answer these questions.

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Read more Cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB)