Posted on 05/16/2009 4:59:54 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – As American astronauts overhauled the aging Hubble, European scientists launched an even larger space telescope toward a far-flung orbit, hoping to help answer two questions: How did the cosmos begin and are we alone in it?
"We are seeking the origins of the universe," said Jean-Yves Le Gall, chairman and CEO of French satellite launcher Arianespace, which on Thursday launched the Herschel space telescope and a companion spacecraft from French Guiana.
The Herschel space telescope, the largest ever launched, will observe chunks of ice and dust left over from the formation of planets, playing a "complementary" role to the versatile Hubble, said Andreas Diekmann, director of the European Space Agency's Washington office.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
The Herschel space telescope is readied for mating to a cylindrical adapter that will serve as the space telescope's interface with Ariane 5's payload stack in Kourou. Europe launched two powerful space telescopes -- Herschel and Planck -- designed to peer into the origins of the Universe and the formation of stars and galaxies. (AFP/ESA/L Mira)
Planck’s home page
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/planck/index.html
Herschel and Planck on Way to Study Our Cosmic Roots
Excellent! And notice, the ESA didn’t let NASA launch it?
On to the Webb Telescope and beyond. . .
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Via la France. The got the bugs out of their rockets.
The full telescope name is the Herschel Schmoikel telescope. Powered fully by bagels and lox.
The ESA has launched a lot of their own hardware.
The irony is that in its entire life, the Hubble has only viewed a tiny amount of the sky.
The same can be said for the ESA scope. It’s the nature of the bigness of the sky....and the more powerful the scope, the less it can see of the sky.
I’m glad they do. The more carriers, the better. NASA has become pretty decrepit of late, and bound to get worse because I think Zero’s planning on nixing the shuttle’s replacement.
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