A thin layer of ice disrupted the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Euclid space observatory. The telescope is located 1.5 million kilometers from Earth. This situation was officially reported Web site ESA.
As the agency clarified, the thickness of the ice cover in Euclidean mirrors does not exceed the thickness of one strand of DNA. Despite its insignificant bulk, it was enough to blur the telescope’s sensors and reduce its ability to capture starlight.
Euclid is located at the Lagrange point L2, where the gravitational forces of the Earth and the Sun balance each other, allowing the telescope to remain stationary relative to the Earth without having to waste fuel to adjust its position. The space observatory was designed to study ancient galaxies.
“Some stars in the universe vary in brightness, but most remain constant over millions of years. When our instruments detected a weak, gradual decrease in the number of incoming photons, we realized that the problem was not with the stars, but with us,” said Misha Schirmer, head of the Euclid deicing team at ESA.
For the first time, experts began the process of remote heating of the device using built-in heaters. ESA plans to increase the temperature of optical parts
“Euclid” with a low level of risk.
An alternative would be to heat the entire telescope, but such a solution would lead to an expansion of its mechanical design. The agency explained that in this case, there is a risk that some components may not quickly return to their original state.
Previously Euclidean telescope passed First images of the Dark Universe mission.