Author Topic: ESA - Herschel and Planck updates  (Read 87898 times)

Offline Mark Max Q

  • Going Supersonic
  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1185
  • Liked: 12
  • Likes Given: 15

Offline jacqmans

  • Moderator
  • Global Moderator
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 21709
  • Houten, The Netherlands
  • Liked: 8562
  • Likes Given: 320
Re: ESA - Herschel and Planck updates
« Reply #1 on: 05/21/2009 06:59 pm »
Herschel and Planck commissioning has begun
 
21 May 2009

After a perfect injection by the Ariane 5 launcher on 14 May, the critical Launch and Early Orbit Phase (LEOP) for Herschel and Planck has started to wind down, while commissioning of the scientific instruments and subsystems on both spacecraft has begun.

http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMKN80OWUF_index_0.html
Jacques :-)

Offline IW1DGG

  • Full Member
  • *
  • Posts: 114
  • Liked: 6
  • Likes Given: 0
Re: ESA - Herschel and Planck updates
« Reply #2 on: 05/28/2009 08:54 am »
Yesterday, 27May both were already at 1million km from the Earth...
did you know that MPLMs, Node 2&3, Columbus Structure, ATV pressurized section and Cupola (50 % of the ISS), were built in Torino (Italy)?.... and now Axiom station, Gateway HALO structure, IHAB and ERM?

Offline jacqmans

  • Moderator
  • Global Moderator
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 21709
  • Houten, The Netherlands
  • Liked: 8562
  • Likes Given: 320
Re: ESA - Herschel and Planck updates
« Reply #3 on: 06/05/2009 03:15 pm »
Planck satellite manoeuvre aims at L2 arrival
 
5 June 2009
Beginning today, ESA's Planck satellite will carry out a critical mid-course manoeuvre that will place the satellite on its final trajectory for arrival at L2, the second Lagrange point of the Sun-Earth system, early in July.

http://asimov.esrin.esa.int/esaCP/SEMVHHVTGVF_index_0.html
Jacques :-)

Offline missinglink

  • Full Member
  • *
  • Posts: 127
  • Liked: 21
  • Likes Given: 133
Re: ESA - Herschel and Planck updates
« Reply #4 on: 06/05/2009 09:31 pm »
I hope this works as planned... survey of cosmic microwave background could lead to an equally big breakthrough as WMAP...

Offline bolun

  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3557
  • Europe
  • Liked: 970
  • Likes Given: 110
Re: ESA - Herschel and Planck updates
« Reply #5 on: 06/14/2009 07:47 pm »

Europe's Herschel space observatory, has achieved a critical milestone.

The telescope has opened the hatch that has been protecting its sensitive instruments from contamination.

The procedure allowed light collected by Herschel's giant 3.5m mirror to flood its supercold instrument chamber, or cryostat, for the first time.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8099105.stm


Offline cb6785

  • First Officer MD11F / Simulator Instructor
  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1195
  • EDDS/STR
  • Liked: 15
  • Likes Given: 3
Re: ESA - Herschel and Planck updates
« Reply #6 on: 06/19/2009 01:42 pm »
Herschel has captured it's first image! It's an image of galaxy M51.

http://www.dlr.de/en/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-1/86_read-18016/
You know, if I’d had a seat you wouldn’t still see me in this thing. - Chuck Yeager

Offline jacqmans

  • Moderator
  • Global Moderator
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 21709
  • Houten, The Netherlands
  • Liked: 8562
  • Likes Given: 320
Re: ESA - Herschel and Planck updates
« Reply #7 on: 06/19/2009 01:48 pm »
Herschel opened its 'eyes' on 14 June and the Photoconductor Array Camera and Spectrometer obtained images of M51, 'the whirlpool galaxy' for a first test observation. Scientists obtained images in three colours from the observation, which clearly demonstrate the superiority of Herschel, the largest infrared space telescope ever flown.

More at:
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Herschel/SEM76A0P0WF_0.html
Jacques :-)

Offline jacqmans

  • Moderator
  • Global Moderator
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 21709
  • Houten, The Netherlands
  • Liked: 8562
  • Likes Given: 320
Re: ESA - Herschel and Planck updates
« Reply #8 on: 07/03/2009 02:40 pm »
Coolest spacecraft ever in orbit around L2
3 July 2009

Yesterday, the detectors of Planck's High Frequency Instrument reached their amazingly low operational temperature of -273°C, making them the coldest known objects in space. The spacecraft also entered orbit around the second Lagrange point of the Sun-Earth system, L2.

http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEM0Y5S7NWF_index_0.html
Jacques :-)

Offline jacqmans

  • Moderator
  • Global Moderator
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 21709
  • Houten, The Netherlands
  • Liked: 8562
  • Likes Given: 320
Re: ESA - Herschel and Planck updates
« Reply #9 on: 07/10/2009 09:56 am »
Herschel has carried out the first test observations with all its instruments, with spectacular results. Galaxies, star-forming regions and dying stars comprised the telescope's first targets. The instruments provided spectacular data on their first attempt, finding water and carbon and revealing dozens of distant galaxies.

More at:
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Herschel/SEMAYT6CTWF_0.html
Jacques :-)

Offline Chris611

  • Member
  • Posts: 37
  • The Netherlands
  • Liked: 8
  • Likes Given: 3
Re: ESA - Herschel and Planck updates
« Reply #10 on: 09/04/2009 07:52 pm »
Setback HIFI

The HIFI-spectrometer aboard the European space telescope Herschel – which was launched May 14 - is experiencing a setback. The space instrument is temporarily switched off due to a problem in the so-called Local Oscillator Control Unit. The cause of the problem is still unclear. Extensive tests – now with the additional assistance of an ESA team – will have to come up with an answer. When it is considered safe, the back up system will be switched on, after which a fully functional HIFI will resume the search for the presence of water in remote parts of the Universe.

More (in Dutch)

Offline Mighty-T

  • Member
  • Full Member
  • *
  • Posts: 171
  • Liked: 24
  • Likes Given: 16
Re: ESA - Herschel and Planck updates
« Reply #11 on: 09/05/2009 02:38 pm »
Just noted that someone put the full launch replay on youtube displaying the recordings of all the pad-cameras. It includes some amazing shots:



P.S. I put it here since the Ariane-5 thread with the launch of Herschel/Planck is locked.

Offline catfry

  • Member
  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 409
  • Liked: 6
  • Likes Given: 0
Re: ESA - Herschel and Planck updates
« Reply #12 on: 09/05/2009 03:39 pm »
That is pure porn, thank you for that. They seem to have a number of cameras very close to the launcher, I wonder if they couldn't place them farther away with a bigger zoom. some of them are getting pretty badly blown around by the rocket exhaust.

Offline jacqmans

  • Moderator
  • Global Moderator
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 21709
  • Houten, The Netherlands
  • Liked: 8562
  • Likes Given: 320
Re: ESA - Herschel and Planck updates
« Reply #13 on: 09/17/2009 02:05 pm »
Planck, ESA's mission to study the early Universe, started surveying the sky regularly from its vantage point at the second Lagrange point of the Sun-Earth system, L2, on 13 August. The instruments were fine-tuned for optimum performance in the period preceding this date. In preparation for routine scientific operations, their long-term stability was verified by conducting a first trial survey.

More at:
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Planck/SEM5CMFWNZF_0.html
Jacques :-)

Offline jacqmans

  • Moderator
  • Global Moderator
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 21709
  • Houten, The Netherlands
  • Liked: 8562
  • Likes Given: 320
Re: ESA - Herschel and Planck updates
« Reply #14 on: 10/02/2009 11:19 am »
Herschel has delivered spectacular vistas of cold gas clouds lying near the plane of the Milky Way, revealing intense, unexpected activity. The dark, cool region is dotted with stellar factories, like pearls on a cosmic string.

Read more at:
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Herschel/SEMUABGNA0G_0.html
Jacques :-)

Offline catfry

  • Member
  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 409
  • Liked: 6
  • Likes Given: 0
Re: ESA - Herschel and Planck updates
« Reply #15 on: 10/13/2009 07:58 am »
found this:

HIFI one step closer to switch-on    
04 Oct 2009
Scientists of SRON and ESA are now closing in on the cause of the problem with the high resolution spectrometer HIFI on board ESA's  Herschel Space observatory. A series of events which is currently being investigated has most probably led to an overload in some components in a DC/DC converter. This caused a malfunction in the so-called Local Oscillator Control Unit (LCU). The back up system will be switched on when SRON and ESA are confident that all conceivable measures have been taken to prevent this chain of events from happening again. HIFI will then resume the search for the presence of water in remote parts of the universe.

After Herschel was launched on 14 May HIFI functioned perfectly for almost three months. A wealth of highly promising scientific data was obtained during the commissioning phase, until August 3d, when an anomaly occurred in the Local Oscillator Control Unit (LCU), a control module for the self-generated local oscillator signal (see below). HIFI was temporarily switched off to determine the exact cause of the problem. But as the "black box" of the module failed also, this proved difficult and time-consuming. Extensive tests by HIFI and ESA teams – in which scenarios are tested that could reproduce the chain of events – are now underpinning the above mentioned scenario.

HIFI will be fully operational again when the back up system is switched on. However, this will only be done when the most benign environment to the electronics involved (temperature conditioning, preventing radical state changes etc.) is firmly established. This should insure a satisfactory operating lifetime of the back up system. Scientists are also working on a scheme (switching on, re-commission of the redundant branch, and then utilising HIFI in a prioritized science programme before going into routine operations) in order to  maximise the scientific impact of the instrument.


Back up system
Dr. Frank Helmich,  principal investigator for HIFI: “Although I expect the back up system to function during the complete lifetime of the Herschel mission, a good tradition in space science is that you take every possible risk very seriously. In the case of HIFI-LCU we are going through a very thorough test program on the ground before switch-on, aimed at reproducing the chain of events that led to the malfunction and to test any measure applicable. Furthermore, the science observations are rescheduled in such a way that the most crucial observations will be done as early as possible after the switch-on."

Herschel is still mostly in the performance verification phase, although the first science observations of the two other instruments have been done. Currently switch-on is envisaged over one month from now. HIFI – the Heterodyne Measuring instrument for the Far Infrared – is investigating the composition of interstellar gas clouds and measures, for example, how much carbon and water these contain. The wealth of detail HIFI is expected to deliver will tell us more about the birth and early development of stars and planets. HIFI shall also make measurements of the atmosphere of planets and comets in our solar system.

Mixed signal
The far-infrared light observed by HIFI has a very high frequency, and is very hard to detect and process. Therefore in HIFI the sky signal (terahertz radiation) is mixed with the local oscillator signal that is generated within HIFI . The mixed signal  has a much lower frequency but still contains all scientific information and can then be easily processed. HIFI was designed and built by a nationally-funded consortium led by SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research. The consortium includes institutes from France, Germany, USA, Canada, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Taiwan."


http://www.sron.nl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2397&Itemid=588
« Last Edit: 10/13/2009 08:00 am by catfry »

Offline catfry

  • Member
  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 409
  • Liked: 6
  • Likes Given: 0
Re: ESA - Herschel and Planck updates
« Reply #16 on: 11/04/2009 09:19 am »
Found this:

Consistent failure scenario for HIFI    

26 Oct 2009
The international team that investigates the problems with the Dutch space instrument HIFI on board the ESA space telescope Herschel has arrived at a complete and consistent failure scenario. A "chain of events" resulted in an overload in one of the power converters of the Local Oscillator Control Unit (LCU), which controls the signal artificially generated within the instrument, causing a permanent failure of one of the diodes.

.....
the investigation team is confident that the back up system can perform nominally for the remainder of the mission provided a number of corrective actions are implemented. Before the restart of the back up system, changes in the operation an protection logic of the instrument will be implemented in the on-board software to prevent re-occurrence of the sequence of events.


http://www.sron.nl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2412&Itemid=754

Offline missinglink

  • Full Member
  • *
  • Posts: 127
  • Liked: 21
  • Likes Given: 133
Re: ESA - Herschel and Planck updates
« Reply #17 on: 12/17/2009 01:50 pm »
BBC News shows images taken by Herschel: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8416263.stm

Offline hop

  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3352
  • Liked: 553
  • Likes Given: 891
Re: ESA - Herschel and Planck updates
« Reply #18 on: 12/17/2009 07:25 pm »
There's now a dedicated site for Herschel images http://oshi.esa.int/ Only 3 up so far, but this is going to be good ;)

Offline bolun

  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3557
  • Europe
  • Liked: 970
  • Likes Given: 110
Re: ESA - Herschel and Planck updates
« Reply #19 on: 01/15/2010 05:35 pm »

Herschel space telescope restored to full health

Herschel Space Telescope is fully operational again after engineers brought its damaged instrument back online.

The observatory's HiFi spectrometer was turned off just three months into the mission because of an anomaly that was probably triggered by space radiation.

The Dutch-led consortium that operates HiFi has now switched the instrument across to its reserve electronics.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8458203.stm


Tags:
 

Advertisement NovaTech
Advertisement Northrop Grumman
Advertisement
Advertisement Margaritaville Beach Resort South Padre Island
Advertisement Brady Kenniston
Advertisement NextSpaceflight
Advertisement Nathan Barker Photography
0