The European Space Agency (ESA) has announced that its Euclid space telescope will launch on July 1, 2023. The mission will be launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral in Florida. Euclid was originally planned to launch on a Russian Soyuz rocket, but last year Moscow withdrew its launchers in response to sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine. The two-tonne Euclid, which is 4.7 metres tall and 3.5 metres wide, will join fellow space telescope James Webb at a stable hovering spot 1.5 million kilometres from Earth called the second Lagrangian Point. From there, Euclid will chart a 3D map of the universe encompassing two billion galaxies across more than a third of the sky. Euclid’s gaze will stretch out to 10 billion light years away, meaning it will peer back 10 billion years into the cosmic past. Euclid’s main objective is to better understand dark matter and dark energy, which together make up 95% of the universe. The existence of both remains entirely theoretical, although also necessary for scientists to construct a working understanding of the universe. Euclid is not expected to identify the true nature of these dark mysteries, but astronomers hope its unprecedented view of the universe will shed light on how they act and evolve over time.
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