Euclid in a nutshell
ESA's Euclid mission is designed to explore the composition and evolution of the dark Universe. By accurately mapping the shape, positions and distance of a huge number of galaxies, the space telescope will create a 3D map of the large-scale structure of the Universe across space and time out to 10 billion light-years, and across more than a third of the sky.
Euclid will be launched by a Space X Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, USA and travel 1.5 million km from Earth, in the opposite direction to the Sun, to reach its orbit around the Lagrange point L2.
The payload module comprises a 1.2 m diameter telescope and two scientific instruments: a visible-wavelength camera (the VISible instrument, VIS) and a near-infrared camera/spectrometer (the Near-Infrared Spectrometer and Photometer, NISP).
The Euclid Consortium has delivered the VIS and NISP instruments to ESA. NASA provided the near-infrared detectors of NISP.
Euclid will address two core themes of ESA’s Cosmic Vision 2015–2025:
- What are the fundamental physical laws of the Universe?
- How did the Universe originate and what is it made of?
Euclid is a European mission, built and operated by ESA, with contributions from NASA. The Euclid Consortium is responsible for providing the scientific instruments and scientific data analysis. ESA selected Thales Alenia Space as prime contractor for the construction of the satellite and its service module, with Airbus Defence and Space chosen to develop the payload module, including the telescope. NASA provided the detectors of the the Near-Infrared Spectrometer and Photometer, NISP.
