A UK-led instrument which will study a previously unexplored part of the Universe leaves the UK this week to be installed on the European Space Agency’s Herschel spacecraft in Germany.
Herschel, a multi purpose space observatory, is scheduled to launch in 2008, in a dual configuration with ESA’s cosmic microwave background mission, Planck. The spacecraft will view the Universe in the far and sub-millimetre wavelength bands and will study the process of how stars form and evolve. As well as looking at our own galaxy and its evolution, Herschel will look at how galaxies formed in the early Universe on a grand scale.
Professor Keith Mason, CEO of the Science and Technology Facilities Council, said, “What is particularly exciting about Herschel is that it will be able to study, in an unrestricted way, a large area of the Universe (between 200 and 400 microns) that cannot be viewed from Earth. The instruments onboard really will be probing the hidden areas of our Universe.”
With a sophisticated payload the spacecraft will also be able to study the atmospheres around planets, comets and satellites. There are three instruments onboard Herschel:- SPIRE (Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver), HIFI (the Heterodyne Instrument for the Far Infrared) and PACS (Photodetector Array Camera and Spectrometer).
The SPIRE instrument has been built, assembled and tested at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire by an international consortium from Europe, US, Canada and China. Professor Matt Griffin from Cardiff University who is Principal Investigator for SPIRE said, “SPIRE is designed to exploit Herschel’s unique capabilities in addressing two of the most prominent questions in astrophysics:- how and when did galaxies form and how do stars form?”
He adds, “Herschel will have the largest astronomical telescope yet flown in space, and it will cover a part of the spectrum that is vital to our knowledge of the universe, but poorly studied so far. Previous missions with much smaller telescopes have started to look at this area, and now Herschel will do so with far better sensitivity and image quality.
SPIRE is being transported to Astrium’s test facility in Friedrichschafen in Germany where it will be tested alongside the other instruments before being assembled onto the spacecraft next year.
Eric Sawyer, SPIRE Project Manager from Rutherford Appleton Laboratory said, “SPIRE is made up of three elements – the focal plane unit which will be inside the Herschel cryostat, responsible for keeping all the spacecraft’s instrumentation cool, and two boxes of warm electronics which will be used to control the instrument and collect data. This is a huge milestone for the SPIRE team, many of whom have been working on the project since its initial conception more than a decade ago.”
There will be an opportunity to find out more about the mission and see the Herschel spacecraft being assembled at Astrium in Friedrichshafen, Germany. Further details will be available in due course.
Contacts
Julia Maddock – Science and Technology Facilities Council Press Office
Tel: 01793 442094
Email: Julia.maddock@stfc.ac.uk
Natalie Bealing – Science and Technology Facilities Council Press Office
Tel: 01235 445484
Email: n.d.bealing@stfc.ac.uk
UK Science Contacts
Professor Matt Griffin – Principal Investigator, SPIRE
Cardiff University
Tel: 029 20874203
Email: matt.griffin@astro.cf.ac.uk
Professor Bruce Swinyard
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
Tel: 01235 446271
Email: B.M.Swinyard@rl.ac.uk
Eric Sawyer – SPIRE Project Manager
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
Tel: 01235 446385
Email: E.C.Sawyer@rl.ac.uk
Notes to Editors
Images
Available from Julia Maddock (details above) on the Science and Technology Facilities Council website later today http://www.scitech.ac.uk
Websites
ESA http://www.esa.int/science/herschel
UK SPIRE websites
http://www.astro.cf.ac.uk/groups/instrumentation/projects/spire/index.html
Science and Technology Facilities Council
The Science and Technology Facilities Council ensures the UK retains its leading place on the world stage by delivering world-class science; accessing and hosting international facilities; developing innovative technologies; and increasing the socio-economic impact of its research through effective knowledge-exchange partnerships.
The Council has a broad science portfolio including Astronomy, Particle Physics, Particle Astrophysics, Nuclear Physics, Space Science, Synchrotron Radiation, Neutron Sources and High Power Lasers. In addition the Council will manage and operate three internationally renowned laboratories:
- The Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Oxfordshire
- The Daresbury Laboratory, Cheshire
- The UK Astronomy Technology Centre, Edinburgh
The Council gives researchers access to world-class facilities and funds the UK membership of international bodies such as the European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN), the Institute Laue Langevin (ILL), European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), the European organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere (ESO) and the European Space Agency (ESA). It also contributes money for the UK telescopes overseas on La Palma, Hawaii, Australia and in Chile, and the MERLIN/VLBI National Facility, which includes the Lovell Telescope at Jodrell Bank Observatory.
