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 M3//EN
VERSION:2.0
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20090513T095737Z
DTSTART:20090514T124500Z
SUMMARY:Euro Space Mission Launch Party
UID:{http://www.columbasystems.com/customers/uom/gpp/eventid/}o3-funuym1p
 -u75hp4
DESCRIPTION:Cutting-edge engineering by staff at the Jodrell Bank Centre 
 for Astrophysics will play a crucial role in a European space mission – 
 due to blast off on Thursday 14 May – to study the fading glow of the Bi
 g Bang.\n\nStaff at The University of Manchester facility have designed 
 and built radio receivers at the heart of one of the major instruments o
 n board the Planck satellite – the most sensitive receivers of their typ
 e ever built.\n\nThe European Space Agency’s Herschel and Planck satelli
 tes will be launched into space from French Guiana\, where they will col
 lect the most detailed information yet about the birth and evolution of 
 our Universe and its stars and galaxies.\n\nThe UK is playing major role
 s in both projects\, with funding from the Science and Technology Facili
 ties Council (STFC).\n\nPlanck will study the ripples in the cosmic micr
 owave background radiation which led to the formation of the first stars
  and galaxies\, looking back in time almost 14 billion years to the orig
 in of the universe.\n\nThe satellite will make very sensitive measuremen
 ts of the temperature over the whole sky\, at nine different frequencies
  between 30 and 900 GHz\, covered by two main instruments called High an
 d Low Frequency Instruments (HFI and LFI).\n\nStaff at The Jodrell Bank 
 Centre for Astrophysics have played a crucial role in the development an
 d construction of this technology – and will continue to play a leading 
 role in the analysis of the scientific data which Planck will produce ov
 er the coming years.\n\nJodrell Bank is involved with the two lowest fre
 quencies of the Low Frequency Instrument (LFI) on Planck. So-called ‘cry
 ogenic low noise amplifiers’ have been developed at Jodrell Bank\, with 
 help from the University of Birmingham and The Rutherford Appleton Labor
 atory.\n\nOther Jodrell Bank scientists are involved in the High Frequen
 cy Instrument (HFI). First at Cardiff University and now at the Universi
 ty of Manchester\, they have played a major role in the design\, develop
 ment and calibration of the Focal Plane Unit\, in particular the cold op
 tics\, in collaboration with the Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale in Fr
 ance\, Maynooth University in Ireland and JPL/Caltech in the United Stat
 es.\n\nPlanck will observe the whole sky at least twice at all nine freq
 uencies over two separate six month periods\, and after about 18 months 
 in orbit the data will be combined into maps of the microwave sky at var
 ious data processing centres situated around Europe.\n\nExtraction of th
 e key data from the maps will be the task of the Planck Consortium membe
 rs\, including the Jodrell Bank team.\n\nBy around 2011 or 2012 it shoul
 d be apparent whether scientists’ current understanding of the origin an
 d evolution of our Universe is correct\, with the mission expected to po
 se many more questions for post-Planck generations of spacecraft to answ
 er.\n\nResearchers at Jodrell Bank will also use the Herschel satellite\
 , which will be launched on the same rocket as Planck. Its 3.5m mirror\,
  the largest single mirror ever built for a space telescope\, will colle
 ct long-wavelength radiation from some of the coldest and most distant o
 bjects in the Universe.\n\nDr Richard Davis from the Jodrell Bank Centre
  for Astrophysics at The University of Manchester and UK LFI Principal I
 nvestigator said: "This is a very exciting time and we can't wait to see
  the cosmic sky with the unprecedented resolution and sensitivity provid
 ed by the Planck satellite. It will tell us about how the universe evolv
 ed from the Big Bang into the beautiful galaxy structures we see around 
 us today.\n\n“The launch is a culmination of 13 years hard work on the L
 ow Frequency Instrument\, which has seen us construct receivers with the
  highest sensitivities achieved in these bands. This is essential to giv
 e us the clear view of the Cosmos expected from Planck.\n\n“The project 
 has involved us in the construction of space qualified hardware\, which 
 has been a new exciting venture for our team of engineers\, technicians\
 , academics and students at Jodrell Bank. We are privileged to be a part
  of this major international project.”\n \nA special party will be held 
 at The University of Manchester at 1.45pm on Thursday 14 May to mark the
  event. The launch will be screened live. Media are able to attend by pr
 ior arrangement\n
STATUS:TENTATIVE
TRANSP:TRANSPARENT
CLASS:PUBLIC
LOCATION:Jodrell Bank\, Bomish Lane\, \, \, \, Lower Withington\, Cheshir
 e SK11 9DL\, SK11 9DL
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