Portal de Cartagena
www.portaldecartagena.com
The European Space Agency (ESA, for its acronym in English) has already validated the first model of the control unit that researchers from the Polytechnic University of Cartagena (UPCT) are carrying out for one of the two telescopic instruments that will equip the Euclid satellite, whose launch is planned for the year 2022.
Researchers from the UPCT Space Science & Engineering Lab group already delivered the unit's electrical test model that should control the infrared filter wheels and the diffraction gratings, the LED lamps for the calibration of the sensors, the temperature of the instrument and its boot software, as well as communication with the ship's computer to send telemetries and receive commands.
"The next steps are the delivery in October of the qualification model, which will already be manufactured with space quality components to withstand the hostility of the space, which includes strong radiations, extreme temperatures and the enormous vibrations of the launch, and after its validation, deliver the model of flight in May, "says Rafael Toledo Moreo, responsible for a project that has funding, with reference ESP2017-84272-C2-2-R, from the EU FEDER Funds, from the state programs for the promotion of the investigation Challenges of the society and Generation of the Knowledge.
The Euclid satellite will be equipped with a powerful telescope 1.2 meters in diameter that will feed images of two billion galaxies to a camera of 576 million pixels, providing resolutions of very high definition, equivalent to those of the Hubble orbital telescope.
With these data, and through infrared technology, scientists will make a three-dimensional map of the Universe.
With this map, a tomography of the distribution of dark matter will be obtained and it will also allow to delimit fundamental cosmological parameters that help us to reveal the nature of dark energy.
Source: UPCT
Privacy policy
- Legal notice
- Cookies