The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicProtecting life and infrastructure on Earth and in orbit
Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
Go to topicThank you for liking
You have already liked this page, you can only like it once!
This is a picture of the Heterodyne Instrument for the Far Infrared's (HIFI) focal plane unit.
HIFI is a very high-resolution heterodyne spectrometer. The heterodyne detection principle involves translating the frequency range of the signal observed by the telescope to a lower frequency where it is easier to perform the required measurements.
This is done by mixing the incoming signal with a very stable monochromatic signal, generated by a local oscillator, and extracting the difference frequency for further processing. HIFI observes in seven bands covering 480 to 1910 gigaHertz.
The scientific observations from HIFI will among other objectives help astronomers understand the interrelation between stars and the interstellar medium.
It was developed by a consortium led by SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Science.