AVS announced Jan. 30 that it won a study contract for the initial phases of the ARRAKIHS mission, an ESA F-Class, or fast, astrophysics mission. The mission, whose full name is Analysis of Resolved Remnants of Accreted galaxies as a Key Instrument for Halo Surveys, will operate in low Earth orbit, studying galactic structures using a binocular telescope to better understand dark matter.
... by the time ARRAKIHS launched in 2030.
Redwire’s wholly owned Belgian subsidiary, Redwire Space NV, has been awarded one of two parallel industry studies to lead Phase A and B for the Analysis of Resolved Remnants for Accreted galaxies as a Key Instrument for Halo Surveys (ARRAKIHS) mission. Redwire’s solution is built around an adapted version of its flight-proven small satellite platform, Hammerhead, and its proven avionics capabilities, which launched most recently on ESA’s Hera mission. If selected for ARRAKIH’s implementation phases, Redwire will also be tasked with integrating the full satellite in its state-of-the-art cleanroom facilities in Belgium..[...]“ARRAKIHS exemplifies the appeal of Fast class missions in the ESA science program. By combining an innovative payload with a quasi-recurring platform, we can significantly reduce the time from the initial concept to the delivery of scientific data, paving the way for exciting and groundbreaking discoveries.” commented Carlos Corral van Damme, ESA’s ARRAKIHS Project Manager. “The Fast missions address focused scientific cases and contribute to the program’s diversity. They also provide a fast-training path to the young generation, both in the scientific community and industry. The parallel industrial studies will ensure that the spacecraft design and the required technologies are ready for the implementation phase when the mission is adopted by the Science Program Committee in mid-2026″, he added.
The Arrakihs space mission, selected by the European Space Agency (ESA) and led by Spain for the first time, begins its scientific preparation period at the Javalambre Astrophysical Observatory (OAJ) in the province of Teruel. This milestone is a fundamental step toward the planned launch of the mission in 2030. The mission will study the formation of galaxies like the Milky Way , including the role of dark matter.
"It's about being as prepared as possible for launch while simultaneously reducing any uncertainty ," says Antonio Marín-Franch, lead researcher at the OAJ . "It will allow us to conduct a feasibility study of some critical aspects of the mission," he explains.
Following its launch in 2030, the ground demonstrator will continue to support the instrument launched into space with observations made from Javalambre.
In 2022, #Arrakihs was selected as a fast mission under #CosmicVision. By imaging Milky Way-type galaxies in the nearby Universe, Arrakihs will provide important measurements to address key questions in galaxy formation theory. 1/ #CM25
#Arrakihs will image more than 75 nearby Milky Way-like galaxies & their surroundings, using two innovative, near-identical binocular telescope assemblies. It will carry out a survey at visible & infrared wavelengths, far exceeding what's currently possible from ground-based telescopes. 2/ #CM25
#Arrakihs is now in study phase, targeting a launch date in 2030. 3/ #CM25
Rapidly growing satellite constellations have raised strong concerns among the scientific community1,2,3,4. Reflections from satellites can be visible to the unaided eye and extremely bright for professional telescopes. These trails already affect astronomical images across the complete electromagnetic spectrum, with a noticeable cost for operations and mitigation efforts. Contrary to popular perception, satellite trails affect not only ground-based observatories but also space observatories such as the Hubble Space Telescope5. However, the current number of satellites is only a fraction (less than 3%) of those to be launched in the next decade. Here we show a forecast of the satellite trail contamination levels for a series of international low-Earth-orbit telescopes on the basis of the proposed telecommunication industry constellations. Our results show that if these constellations are completed, one-third of the images of the Hubble Space Telescope will be contaminated, while the SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer), ARRAKIHS (Analysis of Resolved Remnants of Accreted galaxies as a Key Instrument for Halo Surveys) and Xuntian space telescopes will have more than 96% of their exposures affected, with 5.6 (+0.3, -0.3), 69 (+21, -22) and 92 (+11, -10) trails per exposure, respectively, with an average surface brightness of μ = 19 ± 2 mag arcsec−2. Our results demonstrate that light contamination is a growing threat for space telescope operations. We propose a series of actions to minimize the impact of satellite constellations, allowing researchers to predict, model and correct unwanted satellite light pollution from science observations.
