2026-09-05 15:32:16 UTC
JD 2461289.15
STATION 03 · ASTROMETRICS DOSSIER NOMINAL

Euclid

ESA / NASA Target: Sun-Earth L2 Halo Orbit In flight: 3y 2m (Launched Jul 1, 2023)
REAL-TIME ASTROMETRICS CONSOLE
FRAME: HELIOCENTRIC / J2000
Heliocentric Distance 0.010027 AU 1,500,018 km
Round-Trip Light Time (RTLT) 10.01s One-Way Delay: 5.00s
Spacecraft Velocity 0.18 km/s 648 km/h heliocentric
Trajectory Profile Halo orbit around Sun-Earth L2 point (1.5M km from Earth) Phase: Wide Cosmological Survey (Year 3)

01 Mission Architecture & Scientific Objectives

Euclid is ESA’s space telescope designed to map the geometry of the dark Universe. Over six years, Euclid is imaging billions of galaxies across more than a third of the sky, measuring gravitational lensing distortions and baryon acoustic oscillations to understand the acceleration of cosmic expansion driven by dark energy.

02 Scientific Instrument Payload

Sensor Subsystem Scientific Measurement Function State
VIS Visible Instrument
Huge 600-megapixel optical camera measuring galaxy shear from weak gravitational lensing.
Active
NISP Near-Infrared Spectrometer & Photometer
Measures photometric redshifts and spectroscopic velocities of distant galaxies.
Active

03 Historical Astrometric Chronology

2023
Launch on Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral; transit to L2.
2024
Commenced 6-year wide-sky survey; released initial glittering early test fields.
2026+
Constructing the largest 3D cosmological map of cosmic web structure.