Dark Universe Mission Ready to Take Shape

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Since then, the mission’s design has been studied and refined. This process has involved a wide range of detailed technical designs, in addition to building and testing key components.

The outcome of Euclid’s recent review was positive, opening the door for the industrial contractors and external instrument teams building the spacecraft and payload. Airbus Defence & Space in France will deliver the complete payload module incorporating a 3.9-foot-diameter (1.2-meter) telescope feeding the two science instruments being developed by the Euclid Consortium.

“This is a major milestone for us. Everyone is now ready to start cutting metal,” said René Laureijs, ESA's Euclid project scientist.

Euclid is a European Space Agency mission scheduled for launch in 2020. The Euclid consortium, with important participation from NASA, will provide science instruments and data and science analysis. NASA's Euclid Project Office is based at JPL. JPL will provide the infrared flight detectors for one of Euclid's two science instruments. NASA Goddard will perform detailed testing on flight detectors prior to delivery. The Euclid NASA Science Center is based at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center (IPAC) at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California. It will support all US investigators, including three teams selected by NASA. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.

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