The European Space Agency's (ESA) Euclid flagship Dark Energy Satellite Mission is due to Launch from Cape Canaveral in Florida at 11:12 a.m. EDT (4:12 p.m. BST) on Saturday 1st July 2023, on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
Euclid’s 6-year mission is to map the dark Universe, using the positions of galaxies and images of dark matter produced from the gravitational lensing distortions of distant galaxies. The galaxy and dark matter maps contain information about the expansion history of the Universe and the growth of structure within it. By analysing these maps, astronomers will be able to determine the nature of both dark matter and dark energy. Dark matter, which unlike normal matter does not reflect or emit light, binds together galaxies creating the environment for stars, planets and life, while dark energy is the mysterious new phenomenon which is pushing galaxies away from each other and causing the expansion of the Universe to accelerate.