Planck cruising to L2

ESA – D. Ducros · Download full size image

Herschel and Planck will be launched together on an Ariane 5 from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. The satellites will be placed inside the fairing of the launcher; Planck at the bottom, Herschel on top. They will separate shortly after launch and proceed independently to different orbits around the second Lagrange point of the Sun-Earth system, or L2. The boosters of the Ariane 5 will burn for slightly less than 2.5 minutes and its main and upper stage engines for about 25 minutes to set Herschel and then Planck on the path to L2.

On reaching L2, Planck will be injected into a Lissajous orbit (a kind of orbit that winds around a torus without closing onto itself) using the onboard thrusters.

Posted on: 26 May, 2009

• Hubble Space Telescope
• Chandra X-ray Observatory
• Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory
• ROSAT X-ray Observatory
• SOHO Solar Observatory
• WMAP
• 2MASS Sky Survey
• ASTER Earth Imaging Instrument
• MISR Earth Imaging Instrument
• NRAO Gallery
• NAOJ Subaru Telescope
• Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX)
• European Southern Observatory (ESO)
• Wide-Field Imager (WFI)
• SOFI Infrared Multi-mode Instrument
• Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT)
• New Technology Telescope (NTT)
• Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX)
• SOHO Daily Images - 1996
• Spitzer Space Telescope (SIRTF)
• Infrared Legacy Gallery
• Herschel
• Advanced Technology Solar Telescope
• Planck

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