Following a series of comprehensive tests at the Thales Alenia Space premises in Cannes, Euclid has embarked on a sea voyage to Florida (USA), where the spacecraft is due to arrive at the beginning of May.

The lift-off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral is to take place in July 2023 with an orbit around the Lagrange point L2, at some 1.5 million km from Earth, in the opposite direction to the Sun, as its final destination.

Surveying the universe beyond our galaxy, the telescope will attempt to unravel the secrets of the cosmic web and try to explain how invisible dark matter and dark energy influence the structure and evolution of the universe.

ESA has recently released a video clip briefly explaining the five biggest mysteries that Euclid is supposed to clarify (see link below).

Since 2015, SPACEBEL has been in charge of the development of the Euclid control and data management unit application software, which controls the spacecraft and all its subsystems. We also cover the associated software validation facilities and services. In February, we delivered to Thales Alenia Space Italy, Euclid’s prime contractor, the final version of our software.