Related to the gaia@home project:
The Gaia spacecraft, which was launched in 12/2013 and reached its "workplace", an orbit of the Sun–Earth Lagrange point L2, in 01/2014, has now depleted almost all of its fuel. Science operations ended already several weeks ago. Tomorrow, the spacecraft will be deactivated and from then on spend its retirement on a heliocentric orbit. (So as not to litter the precious L2 point.)
However, the Gaia mission is far from over: There have been three data releases so far, and two more are being prepared and expected to be published in 2026 and 2030 respectively.
The Gaia spacecraft carried two optical telescopes, making it sort of a stereoscopic digital camera with gigapixel resolution. During its operational phase, it was spinning slowly in order to scan the entire celestial sphere and to measure positions, distances, motions and various physical parameters of a ~billion of stars within and outside the Milky Way, mapping our galaxy in 3D. Objects within our solar system, extrasolar planets, extragalactic supernovae, and more are being looked for as well.
More:
https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/gaia/news
https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/gaia/science-objectives
https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Gaia_overview
The Gaia spacecraft, which was launched in 12/2013 and reached its "workplace", an orbit of the Sun–Earth Lagrange point L2, in 01/2014, has now depleted almost all of its fuel. Science operations ended already several weeks ago. Tomorrow, the spacecraft will be deactivated and from then on spend its retirement on a heliocentric orbit. (So as not to litter the precious L2 point.)
However, the Gaia mission is far from over: There have been three data releases so far, and two more are being prepared and expected to be published in 2026 and 2030 respectively.
The Gaia spacecraft carried two optical telescopes, making it sort of a stereoscopic digital camera with gigapixel resolution. During its operational phase, it was spinning slowly in order to scan the entire celestial sphere and to measure positions, distances, motions and various physical parameters of a ~billion of stars within and outside the Milky Way, mapping our galaxy in 3D. Objects within our solar system, extrasolar planets, extragalactic supernovae, and more are being looked for as well.
More:
https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/gaia/news
https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/gaia/science-objectives
https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Gaia_overview