Planck satellite

Infobox Space telescope
name = Planck


caption =
organization = ESA
alt_names = COBRAS/SAMBA
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location = 1.5×10⁶ km from Earth (L2 Lagrangian point)
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period =
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launch_date = due February 2009
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mission_length =
wavelength = 350 to 10,000 µm
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instrument_1_name = Low Frequency Instrument (LFI)
instrument_1_characteristics = 30–70 GHz receivers
instrument_2_name = High Frequency Instrument (HFI)
instrument_2_characteristics = nowrap|100–857 GHz receivers
instrument_3_name =
instrument_3_characteristics =
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website = [http://www.rssd.esa.int/index.php?project=PLANCK ESA's Planck Satellite webpage]

The Planck satellite is a spacecraft built in the Cannes Mandelieu Space Center, that is designed to observe the anisotropies of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) over the entire sky, using high sensitivity and angular resolution. It was created as the third Medium-Sized Mission (M3) of ESA's Horizon 2000 Scientific Programme. Initially, the project was called COBRAS/SAMBA; after its selection and approval, it was renamed in honor of the German scientist Max Planck (1858-1947), who won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1918.

The mission will complement and improve upon observations made by NASA's WMAP probe, which has measured the anisotropies at larger angular scales and lower sensitivity. Planck will provide a major source of information relevant to several cosmological and astrophysical issues, such as testing theories of the Early Universe and the origin of cosmic structure.

It is currently scheduled for launch in the spring 2009 aboard an Ariane 5 rocket together with the Herschel Space Observatory satellite.

Instruments

The spacecraft carries two instruments; the Low Frequency Instrument (LFI) and the High Frequency Instrument (HFI)."Blue Book", Chapter 1] Both instruments can detect both the total intensity and polarization of photons, and cover a frequency range of 30 to 857GHz.

Low Frequency Instrument

The LFI has three frequency bands, covering the range of 30-70GHz. The detectors use High Electron Mobility Transistors."Blue Book", Chapter 1]

High Frequency Instrument

The HFI has six frequency bands, between 100 and 857GHz. They use bolometers to detect photons. The 4 lower frequency bands have sensitivity to linear polarization; the two higher bands do not."Blue Book", Chapter 1]

Scientific aims

The mission has a wide variety of scientific aims, including:"Blue Book"]
* High resolution detections of both the total intensity and polarization of the primordial CMB anisotropies
* Creation of a catalogue of galaxy clusters through the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect
* Observations of the gravitational lensing of the CMB, as well as the Integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect
* Observations of bright extragalactic radio (Active Galactic Nuclei) and infrared (dusty galaxy) sources
* Observations of the Milky Way, including the local interstellar medium, distributed synchrotron emission and measurements of the Galactic magnetic field.
* Studies of the local Solar System, including planets, asteroids, comets and the Zodiacal light.
* Establishing the 4-dimensional topology of the universe, in particular, whether or not it is hyperbolic, multiply-connected and dodecahedral. [http://arxiv.org/abs/0704.3374 Geometry and Topology in Relativistic Cosmology]

References

* " [http://www.rssd.esa.int/SA/PLANCK/docs/Bluebook-ESA-SCI%282005%291_V2.pdf Planck: The Scientific Programme] " (also known as the "Blue Book"). European Space Agency. ESA-SCI(2005)-1. Version 2.

See also

*Cosmic microwave background experiments
*Observational cosmology

External links

* [http://www.rssd.esa.int/index.php?project=Planck Planck Surveyor Homepage]
* [http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Operations/SEM45HZTIVE_0.html ESA Planck operations page]