Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




SPACE SCOPES
Gaia is positioned for its star-mapping launch on an Arianespace Soyuz
by Staff Writers
Kourou, French Guiana (ESA) Dec 16, 2013


Gaia is designed to observe one billion stars in the Milky Way approximately 70 times each during a mission design life of 5.5 years.

The payload "stack" is now taking shape for this month's Arianespace launch of Gaia - Europe's billion-star mapper satellite, which is to be lofted by a Soyuz vehicle on December 19 from French Guiana.

As the latest milestone in a now well-established processing flow for Arianespace's medium-lift Soyuz, Gaia was positioned atop the launcher's Fregat upper stage during activity in the Spaceport's S3B preparation building. Fregat is an autonomous, highly flexible upper stage that will perform two separate burns in sending Gaia on its way to an orbit around the Sun at the L2 Lagrangian point.

The next processing step is to encapsulate the Gaia/Fregat combination in a two-piece payload fairing, readying the unit for mating to Soyuz after the vehicle's rollout from its separate MIK integration building - where the Russian-built launcher was assembled.

Gaia is designed to observe one billion stars in the Milky Way approximately 70 times each during a mission design life of 5.5 years, and has a liftoff mass of 2,030 kg.

Built by Astrium at its Toulouse, France facility, Gaia will be operated by the European Space Agency to provide a representative sample from which properties of the entire galaxy can be measured, ultimately allowing astronomers to determine its origin and evolution.

Gaia will be launched on Arianespace's sixth Soyuz flight performed from the Spaceport since 2011, where this workhorse launcher is operational alongside the company's heavy-lift Ariane 5 and lightweight Vega vehicles.

.


Related Links
Arianespace
Space Telescope News and Technology at Skynightly.com






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








SPACE SCOPES
New Video Reveals NASA's Webb Telescope is "All Sewn Up"
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Dec 13, 2013
The newest video in the "Behind the Webb" series takes viewers behind the scenes to reveal how the pieces that make up each layer of the James Webb Space Telescope's thin sunshield are bonded together. NASA's Webb telescope has a five-layer sunshield that is as large as a tennis court. The sunshield will help keep the infrared instruments aboard as cold as possible by blocking out heat and ... read more


SPACE SCOPES
China's Lunar Lander May Provide Additional Science for NASA Spacecraft

China plans to launch Chang'e-5 in 2017

Mining the moon is pie in the sky for China: experts

Ancient crater could hold clues about moon's mantle

SPACE SCOPES
Opportunity Communications Remain Slow Due To Odyssey Issues

New Views of Mars from Sediment Mineralogy

NASA poised to launch Mars atmosphere probe

The Tough Task of Finding Fossils While Wearing a Spacesuit

SPACE SCOPES
IBM sees five tech-powered changes in next five years

European consortium space company to offer 'affordable' trips to space

Planning group calls for National Space Policy in Britain

Quails in orbit: French cuisine aims for the stars

SPACE SCOPES
Chinese sci-fi writers laud moon landing

China deploys 'Jade Rabbit' rover on moon

The Dragon Has Landed

Chinaese moon rover and lander photograph each other

SPACE SCOPES
Altitude of International Space Station raised

NASA mulls spacewalks to fix space station

NASA reports coolant loop problem at ISS

Space station cooling breakdown may delay Orbital launch

SPACE SCOPES
India to decide December 27 on GSAT-14 launch date

Arianespace orders 18 rockets for 2 bn euros

Iran sends second monkey into space

SpaceX to bid for rights to historic NASA launch pad

SPACE SCOPES
Astronomers solve temperature mystery of planetary atmospheres

Nearby failed stars may harbor planet

Innovative instrument probes close binary stars, may soon image exoplanets

Feature of Earth's atmosphere may help in search for habitable planets

SPACE SCOPES
Inertial Sensor Head shaken but not disturbed

Programming smart molecules

SOFS Take to Water

Rock points to potential diamond haul in Antarctica




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement