Eyes on the dark side – successful launch for Euclid spacecraft

The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Euclid science spacecraft has been successfully launched from Kennedy Space Centre. A high-precision 1.2m diameter telescope and payload module designed and built by Airbus will enable Euclid to explore the composition and evolution of the Universe including the role of dark matter and dark energy. Built by Thales Alenia Space for ESA, Euclid will collect high-resolution images in visible and infrared wavelengths. Within six years of observation, covering more than one-third of the entire sky, Euclid will measure the shapes of, and distances to, more than 1 billion galaxies. www.airbus.com