Euclid Mission

Context:  Euclid, the cosmological mission of the European Space Agency (ESA), is all set for launch on July 1. About Euclid Mission:
  • Euclid is a European mission, built and operated by ESA, with support from NASA’s Roman Space Telescope.
  • NASA is assisting the Euclid mission by providing essential hardware for one of the spacecraft’s sensors, supporting the science team, and creating a Euclid data processing centre in the United States.
Aim of the Euclid mission
  • To explore the composition and evolution of the ‘dark’ Universe.
  • To uncover the great cosmic mystery of dark matter and dark energy from the Sun-Earth Lagrange point L2.
Additional Information  About Dark Matter and Dark Energy:
  • Visible universe—including Earth, sun, other stars, and galaxies—is made of protons, neutrons, and electrons bundled together into atoms.
    • It makes up less than 5 percent of the mass of the universe.
  • Rest of the universe appears to be made of a mysterious invisible substance called dark matter (~25 percent) and a force that repels gravity known as dark energy (~70 percent). 
  • Unlike normal matter, dark matter does not interact with electromagnetic force. 
    • This means it does not absorb, reflect, or emit light, making it extremely hard to spot.
    • Scientists study dark matter by looking at the effects it has on visible objects.
  • It is believed that dark matter is what gives galaxies extra mass, generating extra gravity they need to stay intact.
  • Dark energy is the name given to the mysterious force that’s causing the rate of expansion of our universe to accelerate over time, rather than to slow down.
 News Source: money control 

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