Herschel's First Year In Space

...ESA Space Science & Technology: Herschel One Year After Launch.

The European Space Agency's Herschel Space Observatory (formerly called Far Infrared and Sub-millimetre Telescope or FIRST) has the largest single mirror ever built for a space telescope. At 3.5-metres in diameter the mirror will collect long-wavelength radiation from some of the coldest and most distant objects in the Universe. In addition, Herschel will be the only space observatory to cover a spectral range from the far infrared to sub-millimetre.

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HERSCHEL MISSION:

The Herschel Space Observatory is the largest infrared space observatory launched to date. Equipped with a 3.5 metre diameter reflecting telescope and instruments cooled to close to absolute zero, Herschel will observe at wavelengths that have never previously been explored. After a roughly 60-day journey from Earth, Herschel will spend a nominal mission lifetime of three years in orbit around the second Lagrange point of the Sun-Earth system (L2).

Infrared astronomy is a young and exciting science. In recent decades infrared astronomers have unveiled tens of thousands of new galaxies, and have made surprising discoveries such as the huge amounts of water vapour that fill our Galaxy. Yet scientists know there is still much more to discover. Objects such as other planetary systems, or processes like the birth of galaxies in the early Universe, can best be studied with infrared telescopes situated in space and therefore freed from the restrictions imposed by the Earth's atmosphere. This is the reason ESA is constructing the Herschel observatory.

The Herschel spacecraft is approximately 7.5 metres high and 4 × 4 metres in overall cross section, with a launch mass of around 3.4 tonnes. The spacecraft comprises a service module, which houses systems for power conditioning, attitude control, data handling and communications, together with the warm parts of the scientific instruments, and a payload module. The payload module consists of the telescope, the optical bench, with the parts of the instruments that need to be cooled, i.e. the sensitive detector units and cooling systems. The payload module is fitted with a sunshield, which protects the telescope and cryostat from solar visible and infrared radiation and also prevents Earth straylight from entering the telescope. The sunshield also carries solar cells for the electric power generation.

LAUNCH DATE: 14-May-2009 13:12 UT
MISSION END: 2012 (extended mission)
LAUNCH VEHICLE: Ariane 5 ECA
LAUNCH MASS: 3400 kg

HERSCHEL ACHIEVEMENTS:

* Study the formation of galaxies in the early universe and their subsequent evolution
* Investigate the creation of stars and their interaction with the interstellar medium
* Observe the chemical composition of the atmospheres and surfaces of comets, planets and satellites
* Examine the molecular chemistry of the universe

HERSCHEL SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS:

* HIFI (Heterodyne Instrument for the Far Infrared), a very high resolution heterodyne spectrometer
* PACS (Photodetector Array Camera and Spectrometer) - an imaging photometer and medium resolution grating spectrometer
* SPIRE (Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver) - an imaging photometer and an imaging Fourier transform spectrometer

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