The European Space Agency's Herschel and Planck spacecraft launched deep into space to be the worlds eye in the Universe
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Space the New Frontier - Lift-off for European telescopes - by Jonathan Amos
Europe's Herschel and Planck telescopes have blasted into space on an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou in French Guiana. The satellites are being sent into orbit to gather fundamental new insights into the nature of the cosmos. The Ariane lifted clear of the launch pad at 1312 GMT (1412 BST) on a flight that lasted just under half an hour. Mission controllers in Germany made contact with the telescopes just a few minutes after they had separated from the rocket's upper-stage. The ascent through the Earth's atmosphere was just the first stage in what will be a long journey for the astronomical satellites. They will spend the next two to three months making their way out to observation positions some 1.5 million km from Earth on its "night side". The long cruise will allow engineers to check out sub-systems and commission the telescopes' instruments.
Herschel is the largest telescope anyone has yet tried to put in space. Its 3.5m-diameter primary mirror is one-and-a-half-times the size of Hubble's main reflector. Today's launch was also the 30th consecutive success for the Ariane 5, Europe's heavy lifter rocket.
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