Planck satellite shows its beauty (Forwarded)

ESA News
http://www.esa.int

1 February 2007

Planck satellite shows its beauty

Today, ESA's Planck satellite was on display for media gathered in Cannes.
The press event took place by the facility of Alcatel Alenia Space, Prime
Contractor for building the satellite. Special guest was George Smoot,
Nobel Prize for Physics in 2006 for his research on the Cosmic Microwave
background.

The press event was marked by the special participation of George F.Smoot
(Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California, USA),
Nobel prize for Physics in 2006 together with John C. Mather (NASA), for
their discovery of the blackbody form and anisotropy of the Cosmic
Background Radiation -- Planck's object of study.

Planck is Europe's first mission to study the relic radiation from the Big
Bang. Ever since the detection of small fluctuations in the temperature of
this radiation, announced in late 1992, astronomers have used the
fluctuations to understand both the origin of the Universe and the
formation of galaxies.

A video-interview with George Smoot, commenting on the science to be
performed by Planck, can be viewed by clicking at:

* Video part 1

http://mfile.akamai.com/14448/wmv/es...3_wmp_high.asx

* Video part 2

http://mfile.akamai.com/14448/wmv/es...4_wmp_high.asx

The beauty of Planck, a true technology jewel designed to survive in cold
space and operate at temperatures close to absolute zero (-273.15 C), can
be admired in the photos below.

Note to editors

By the end of February, Planck will have completed its integration.
Between that moment and Planck's launch in mid-2008, there remain a number
of important, additional milestones. For example, the entire spacecraft
must be tested at a special cryogenic facility built at the Centre Spatial
de Liège, Université de Liège, Belgium.

The test is necessary because the instruments must be operated at
extremely cold temperatures," says Thomas Passvogel, ESA Project Manager
for Herschel and Planck. "In the case of HFI, the operating temperature is
just one tenth of a degree above absolute zero."

On launch day itself, Planck will be lofted into space by an Ariane-5
rocket from Europe's spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. Inside the nose
cone, Planck will be keeping company with ESA's Herschel infrared space
telescope. With a 3.5 metre mirror, Herschel will be the orbiting
telescope with the largest mirror ever deployed in space. Together Planck
and Herschel will survey the cold Universe. Instead of looking for the
formation of the Universe, however, Herschel's primary mission will be to
see the formation of stars and galaxies.

For more information:

ESA Media Relations Office
Tel: +33(0)1 53 69 7155
Fax: +33(0)1 53 69 7690

[NOTE: Images and weblinks supporting this release are available at
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMM3XSMTWE_index_1.html ]