The European-built Herschel telescope has begun pre-launch processing at the Spaceport in French Guiana as preparations for Arianespace’s second Ariane 5 launch of 2009 shift into full gear.


This spacecraft, which will be used in the flagship mission for European Space Agency studies of the formation of galaxies and stars, arrived in French Guiana last week and has undergone the cleaning of its 3.5-meter diameter mirror inside the Spaceport’s S1B payload preparation facility. Herschel’s mirror will collect long-wavelength infrared radiation from some of the coolest and most distant objects in the universe. With a liftoff mass of 3,300 kg., Herschel will be the largest space telescope of its kind ever launched. Its ability to detect space radiation at far infrared and sub-millimeter wavelengths will help scientists to determine how the first galaxies were formed, and how they evolved into their present-day form.

Herschel will be part of a dual payload for the next Ariane 5 mission, which is set for April 16. It will be joined by the European Space Agency’s Planck spacecraft, which is scheduled to arrive in Kourou later this week. Both satellites were built by Thales Alenia Space. The 1,800-kg. Planck will analyze radiation remnants that filled the universe immediately after the Big Bang, which are observed today as the Cosmic Microwave Background. Data from Planck will provide answers on the universe’s first moments, and how it is expected to develop in the future. Planck is dubbed the European Space Agency’s “time machine.”

After being deployed by Ariane 5, both Herschel and Planck will be sent to the second Lagrange point (L2) of the Sun-Earth system. The upcoming mission with Herschel and Planck follows Arianespace’s successful year-opening multi-payload launch on February 12th, which orbited the HOT BIRD-10 and NSS-9 satellites, along with a pair of Spirale piggyback satellites. A total of six to eight Ariane 5 launches are planned by Arianespace this year, maintaining the heavy-lift vehicle’s sustained flight rate.

(Source: top photo shows the Herschel space telescope positioned for its pre-launch processing activity inside the S1B payload preparation facility at Europe’s Spaceport — bottom photo shows Herschel undergoing a cleaning procedure — all photos courtesy of Arianespace)