ESA Science & Technology - Unveiling the Universe - Two missions to unlock the secrets of the cold cosmos

Publication date: 15 November 2006

Authors: Gerald Crone, Anders Elfving & Thomas Passvogel; and Göran Pilbratt & Jan Tauber

Journal: ESA Bulletin
Volume: 128
Page: 10-17
Year: 2006

Copyright: ESA

In 2008, an Ariane-5 will lift off from French Guiana carrying ESA's two pioneering Herschel and Planck deep space observatories to explore previously unknown regions of the Universe. Their target is the 'bright' part of the far-infrared spectrum that has tantalised scientists for decades. Until now, the technology has not existed to make precise observations of a distant domain that touches the very beginning of time.