ESA is getting ready to launch the telescope on December 19

Dec 18, 2013 18:21 GMT  ·  By
The Gaia mission has received the go-ahead for launch tomorrow, December 19, 2013
   The Gaia mission has received the go-ahead for launch tomorrow, December 19, 2013

Officials with the European Space Agency (ESA) are proud to announce that their latest telescope, the billion-star surveyor Gaia, has just been given a “go” for launch. The confirmation was received after the spacecraft and its Soyuz rocket passed all tests with flying colors. 

Launch is scheduled to occur tomorrow, at 0912 GMT. Gaia will be carried into space aboard a Soyuz-FG delivery system, which will take off from a special launch pad at the Kourou Spaceport in French Guiana, South America. ESA will start broadcasting the event at around 0500 GMT at this link.

Less than 2 minutes after launch, the four boosters on the Soyuz rocket will be jettisoned. The payload fairing will meet the same faith at the 220-second mark. After these milestones are met, the telescope will activate its transmitters and then start deploying its sunshield, around 88 minutes after launch.

The launch and early orbit phase of the mission will conclude at the 101-minute mark, when Gaia will be on its way to the L2 Lagrangian orbital point. Experts estimate it will take about three weeks for the spacecraft to reach this location. See the link here for a video rendering of the launch and early stages of the mission.