Euclid is a space telescope weighing around two tonnes and measuring four metres in length. It carries a mirror 1.2 metres in diameter. Here we can see the payload module with the telescope and scientific instruments (in white) and the service module covered with its golden thermal insulation, on the Thales Alenia Space site in Turin. ESA - S. Corvaja
Euclid will be positioned at the Lagrange point L2, 1.5 million km from the Earth, a region where the gravitational forces of the Sun and Earth combine, enabling the satellite to remain permanently in alignment with the Sun. This orbit also offers very stable observation conditions. Patrice Amoyel
Euclid has 2 main instruments that have been designed to withstand the vacuum of space. These instruments are VIS, covered in black on the image on the left, and NISP, covered in gold.On the right, NISP can be seen between the white telescope and the service module (black). Airbus © ESA - S. Corvaja
The VIS instrument works in the visible range. Its camera (shown here being assembled) is equipped with a CCD sensor measuring 30 cm on each side, enabling it to cover a total field of view equivalent to 2 full moons.Its role is to measure the effects of weak gravitational lensing on the image of galaxies. CEA
NISP will work in the near infrared. On the left is the optical part, with 2 wheels equipped with interchangeable filters or prisms and optical lenses. On the right is the detection system, produced under the responsibility of the CPPM. NISP will make it possible to measure the distances of millions of galaxies very accurately over a large part of the history of the Universe. Euclid Consortium & NISP instrument team
Here we see one of the 16 infra-red sensors attached to a handling support. Taken together, these sub-elements make up the largest detector of this type to be launched into space. It was characterised at the CPPM and the IP2I. © Camille Moirenc
Euclid's instruments, here part of the NISP at the CPPM, are characterised in the laboratory to ensure that they work properly and perform well in the temperature and pressure conditions that the telescope will encounter in space. © Camille Moirenc
Once the telescope had been completely manufactured, it was itself subjected to the conditions of space in a vast vacuum chamber at the Thales Alenia Space site in Cannes. Here we see the inside of the telescope tube, with the mirror in the centre. secondary of the optical assembly. ESA
Once all the tests had been successfully completed, Euclid was placed in a container and sailed to Cape Canaveral in Florida in the United States, its final stop before lift-off aboard a Falcon-9 rocket. © Thales Alenia Space / ImagIn
After final checks, Euclid has finally been placed in the fairing of SpaceX's Falcon-9 rocket, the last stage before launch. Euclid will take 30 days to cover the 1.5 million kilometres separating it from its observation post. The telescope will then be tested for 2 months before starting to take data. ESA
Euclid will be used to study dark matter. Invisible matter that makes up 25% of the content of the Universe. In its images of billions of galaxies, scientists will track down this matter by studying the visual deformations of these galaxies. © NASA, N. Benitez (JHU), T. Broadhurst (Racah Institute of Physics/The Hebrew University), H. Ford (JHU), M. Clampin (STScI),G. Hartig (STScI), G. Illingworth (UCO/Lick Observatory)
Euclid is also on the trail of dark energy. This mysterious energy is causing the Universe to expand faster and faster. To understand it better, Euclid is going to probe deep into the Universe and retrace its history. © ESA/ATG medialab (spacecraft) ; NASA, ESA, CXC, C. Ma, H. Ebeling and E. Barrett (University of Hawaii/IfA), et al. and STScI (background)
