[Satnews] OHB Sweden has been appointed as the supplier of the chemical propulsion system and the fluidic part of the micro-propulsion system for the satellite EUCLID by the European Space Agency (ESA) and Thales Alenia Space in Italy—the total contract amount is worth approximately 12 million euros.
 
Scheduled for launch in 2020, Euclid will explore dark energy and dark matter, the essential but still mysterious ingredients in today’s “Standard Model’ of cosmology. In this model, the majority of matter in the universe is invisible (dark matter), and the universe is expanding at an increasing rate under the action of a still unknown energy source (dark energy).

Artistic rendition of EUCLID, courtesy of ESA.

The chemical rocket motors are mainly used for transfer correction maneuvers and station keeping maneuvers on the way to and around the Lagrange point 2, and the micro cold-gas thrusters for the fine attitude control during science pointing.
 
"OHB Sweden has, in recent years, built a strong expertise in propulsion systems and the company is today a recognized supplier of electrical, chemical and cold gas propulsion systems for satellites," said Gierth Olsson, CEO of OHB Sweden.