Europe's Euclid space telescope was launched on Saturday, embarking on a groundbreaking mission to unravel the enigmatic nature of dark energy and dark matter in the universe.
As reported by AFP, the European Space Agency's (ESA) Director General, Josef Aschbacher, expressed his excitement and anticipation for the mission's success. The telescope was successfully launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 11:12 am local time (1512 GMT). Following separation from the rocket, Euclid promptly transmitted its first signal according to the planned schedule.
Due to Russia's decision to halt the use of Soyuz rockets in response to sanctions related to the conflict in Ukraine, the European Space Agency (ESA) had to rely on Elon Musk's SpaceX to carry out the launch of the Euclid mission.
As reported by AFP, Carole Mundell, the science director of ESA, expressed satisfaction with the flawless launch and emphasized the beginning of Euclid's remarkable journey. Euclid will spend approximately one month traveling through space before reaching its designated position known as the second Lagrange Point, situated at a stable hovering spot around 1.5 million kilometers (over 930,000 miles) from Earth. It will join the James Webb telescope at this location.
From there, Euclid will chart the largest-ever map of the universe, encompassing up to two billion galaxies across more than a third of the sky. By capturing light that has taken 10 billion years to reach Earth's vicinity, the map will also offer a new view of the 13.8-billion-year-old universe's history.