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| Ariane 5 carrying Herschel and Planck lifts off |
| At 15:12:02 CEST, at the beginning of a 55-minute launch window, the Herschel and Planck satellite pair lifted off on board an Ariane 5 from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana.
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| Date: 14 May 2009 |
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| Herschel and Planck are on the launch pad |
14 May 2009: The launch can be followed live on the ESA mogulus channel, and on the Arianespace webcast pages:
See timeline of key events for the Herschel and Planck launch at the end of this page.
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| Date: 13 May 2009 |
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| Successful Launch Readiness Review ahead of the launch of Herschel and Planck |
| The launcher for Herschel and Planck has been declared ready for launch following the successful conclusion of the Launch Readiness Review, RAL (Revue d'Aptitude au Lancement), held on 9 May and the close-out review held on 12 May. The launch from the European Spaceport at Kourou, French Guiana, is scheduled for 14 May 2009. |
| Date: 13 May 2009 |
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| Herschel and Planck to lift off on 14 May |
| Now that additional checks on the Ariane 5 ECA launcher have been completed, Arianespace and ESA have set the launch date of Herschel and Planck for Thursday 14 May. |
| Date: 28 Apr 2009 |
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| Herschel and Planck launch postponed |
| Due to an anomaly discovered during tests on a subassembly identical to the one on the Ariane 5 launcher, Arianespace has decided to carry out additional checks which will take a few days. |
| Date: 20 Apr 2009 |
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| Herschel and Planck to lift off on 6 May |
| With the additional checks related to the flight worthiness of the Herschel telescope now completed, ESA and Arianespace have set the launch date of Herschel and Planck for 6 May 2009. |
| Date: 08 Apr 2009 |
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| Herschel and Planck launch update |
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| Date: 02 Apr 2009 |
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| Launch campaign teams take time out to record a special moment |
| As the launch date for Herschel and Planck approaches the launch campaign teams, who are busy preparing both spacecraft for this momentous event, have taken time out for a group photograph. |
| Date: 17 Mar 2009 |
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| Herschel and Planck launch postponed |
| In order to carry out additional checks on the ground segment of the Herschel and Planck programmes, Arianespace and ESA have jointly agreed to postpone the launch initially planned for 16 April 2009. A new launch date will be announced at the end of March.
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| Date: 13 Mar 2009 |
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| Herschel and Planck get green light for launch campaign |
| ESA's Herschel and Planck missions have successfully completed their test campaigns in Europe and will be soon transported to Europe's spaceport at the Centre Spatial Guyanais in Kourou, French Guyana. |
| Date: 09 Feb 2009 |
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| International Year of Astronomy 2009 officially launched |
| A thrilling launch to the International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009) is taking place at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) Headquarters in Paris on 15 and 16 January 2009. Events include showcases of two major ESA contributions to IYA2009: the Planck Dome and the Groningen Discovery Truck featuring Herschel. |
| Date: 16 Jan 2009 |
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| Herschel and Planck ground segments pass important milestone |
| The Herschel and Planck ground segments have successfully passed another milestone on the path to launch. The conclusion of the Board of the Herschel/Planck Ground Segment Readiness Review is that the review objectives have been met and that the ground segments are on target for a launch slot opening on 10 April 2009. |
| Date: 27 Nov 2008 |
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| Integration of Planck's Two Instruments |
| On Monday 20 November, the focal plane units of the two Planck instruments HFI and LFI were integrated into a single assembly. The High Frequency Instrument (HFI) focal plane unit was inserted into the dedicated opening in the centre of the Low Frequency Instrument (LFI) focal plane unit. |
| Date: 22 Nov 2006 |
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| Planck Telescope Qualification Model Test |
| The structure of the Planck telescope has to remain dimensionally stable, maintaining the mirror positions with an accuracy better than 30 µm, over a wide temperature range. The qualification model of the telescope has recently been tested to correlate the thermoelastic model used in its design with actual performance. |
| Date: 18 Mar 2004 |
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| Research Professorship in Space Astrophysics |
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| Date: 18 Nov 2003 |
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| How constant is our changeable Universe? |
| Constants govern the way our Universe behaves. We regard them as fixed, unchanging quantities. However, how can we be sure that constant really means constant? Modern theories require the values of universal constants to slowly change during the course of cosmic history. Is this the case? ESA is preparing to search for (small) changes in the 'constants of nature'. |
| Date: 23 Apr 2003 |
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| When more data can mean more fun |
| Tomorrow's spacecraft will be capable of generating more data than they can transmit to Earth. In some cases, this could be more data than can even be comfortably handled by today's computational methods. What benefits are there for us in this flood of data? |
| Date: 03 Dec 2002 |
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| The first giant space telescope will be entirely European |
Astrium will build the 3.5-metre mirror for ESA's Herschel Space Observatory
Giant telescopes with primary mirrors of 8 metres in diameter are now common on the ground, but it will take a while before they can jump into space. The first 'space giant' to come will be on ESA's Herschel Space Observatory, to be launched in 2007. |
| Date: 15 Oct 2001 |
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| MAP blazes the way for Planck, ESA's probe into the birth of the Universe |
| In trying to explain the origins of the Universe scientists have taken a step-by-step approach, and ESA's Planck is currently at the top of the staircase. Several experiments, both on Earth and in space, are blazing the trail which will soon be travelled by Planck, on its search for the holy grail of cosmology: the set of 'magic numbers' which define our Universe. Planck, the 'ultimate' tool to find out how everything started, is the first European space mission to study the Big Bang and will be launched in 2007. |
| Date: 29 Jun 2001 |
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| ESA announces signature of its largest-ever contract awarded to build astronomy satellites |
Alcatel Space, prime contractor for ESA's Herschel and Planck space telescopes.
The largest contract ever in the history of European space astronomy has been awarded by the European Space Agency, ESA, to an industrial consortium led by Alcatel Space Industries (France), for the manufacture of two ESA astronomy satellites, the Herschel Space Observatory and Planck. |
| Date: 22 Jun 2001 |
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