Artist's impression | |||||||
| Names | Dark Universe Explorer (DUNE) Spectroscopic All Sky Cosmic Explorer (SPACE)[1] | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mission type | Astronomy | ||||||
| Operator | ESA | ||||||
| COSPAR ID | 2023-092A | ||||||
| SATCATno. | 57209 | ||||||
| Website | www.esa.int/euclid euclid-ec.org | ||||||
| Mission duration | 6 years (nominal) 2 years, 4 months and 23 days (in progress)[2] | ||||||
| Spacecraft properties | |||||||
| Manufacturer | Thales Alenia Space (main) Airbus Defence and Space (payload module)[3] | ||||||
| Launch mass | 2,000 kg (4,400 lb)[3] | ||||||
| Payload mass | 800 kg (1,800 lb)[3] | ||||||
| Dimensions | 4.5 × 3.1 m (15 × 10 ft)[3] | ||||||
| Start of mission | |||||||
| Launch date | 1 July 2023, 15:12 UTC[4] | ||||||
| Rocket | Falcon 9 | ||||||
| Launch site | Cape Canaveral,SLC‑40 | ||||||
| Contractor | SpaceX | ||||||
| Orbital parameters | |||||||
| Reference system | Sun–Earth L2[3] | ||||||
| Regime | Lissajous orbit | ||||||
| Periapsis altitude | 1,150,000 km (710,000 mi) | ||||||
| Apoapsis altitude | 1,780,000 km (1,110,000 mi) | ||||||
| Epoch | Planned | ||||||
| Main telescope | |||||||
| Type | Korsch telescope | ||||||
| Diameter | 1.2 m (3 ft 11 in)[5] | ||||||
| Focal length | 24.5 m (80 ft)[5] | ||||||
| Collecting area | 1.006 m2 (10.83 sq ft)[8] | ||||||
| Wavelengths | From 550 nm (green)[6] to 2 μm (near-infrared)[7] | ||||||
| Resolution | 0.1arcsec (visible) 0.3arcsec (near-infrared)[8] | ||||||
| Transponders | |||||||
| Band | X band (TT&C support) K band (data acquisition) | ||||||
| Frequency | 8.0–8.4 GHz (X band) 25.5–27 GHz (K band) | ||||||
| Bandwidth | Few kbit/s down & up (X band) 74 Mbit/s (K band)[9] | ||||||
| |||||||
The ESA astrophysics insignia for Euclid mission | |||||||
Euclid is a wide-anglespace telescope with a 600-megapixel camera to recordvisible light, anear-infraredspectrometer, andphotometer, to determine theredshift of detectedgalaxies. It was developed by theEuropean Space Agency (ESA) and the Euclid Consortium and was launched on 1 July 2023 fromCape Canaveral in Florida.[10][11] The mission is named after theancient Greek mathematicianEuclid.
After approximately one month, it reached its destination, ahalo orbit around the Sun-Earth secondLagrange point L2, at an average distance of 1.5 million kilometres beyondEarth's orbit. There the telescope is to remain operational for at least six years. The objective of theEuclid mission is to better understanddark energy anddark matter by accurately measuring theaccelerating expansion of the universe. TheKorsch-type telescope will measure the shapes of galaxies at varying distances from Earth and investigate the relationship between distance andredshift.
Euclid is a medium-class ("M-class") mission and is part of theCosmic Vision campaign of ESA'sScience Programme.Euclid was chosen in October 2011 together withSolar Orbiter.[12]Euclid was launched by aFalcon 9 rocket.[13][4] On 7 November 2023 ESA revealedEuclid's first full-colour images of the cosmos, which illustrateEuclid's potential to create the most extensive 3D map of the universe.[14][15] In May 2024, ESA's Euclid mission released images of galaxy clustersAbell 2390 and Abell 2764, star-forming regionMessier 78, spiral galaxyNGC 6744, and theDorado group of galaxies.[16]
Euclid probes the history of theexpansion of the universe and theformation of cosmic structures by measuring the redshift ofgalaxies out to a redshift value of 2, which is equivalent to seeing 10 billion years into the past.[17] The link between galactic shapes and their corresponding redshift will help to show how dark energy contributes to the increased acceleration of the universe. The methods employed exploit the phenomenon ofgravitational lensing, measurement ofbaryon acoustic oscillations, and measurement of galactic distances byspectroscopy.[18]
Gravitational lensing (or gravitational shear) is the alteration of the trajectories of light rays caused by the presence of matter that locally modifies thecurvature of space-time: light emitted by galaxies is deflected as it passes close to matter lying along the line of sight, distorting the resulting image. This matter is composed partly of visible galaxies but it theorized to be mostlydark matter. By measuring thisshear, the amount of dark matter can be inferred, furthering the understanding of how it is distributed in theuniverse.[19]
Spectroscopic measurements will permit measuring the redshifts of galaxies and determining their distances usingHubble's law. In this way, one can reconstruct the three-dimensional distribution of galaxies in theuniverse.[17]
From these data, it is possible to simultaneously measure the statistical properties concerning the distribution of dark matter and galaxies and measure how these properties change as the spacecraft looks further back in time. Highly precise images are required to provide sufficiently accurate measurements. Any distortion inherent in the sensors must be accounted for and calibrated out, otherwise the resultant data would be of limited use.[17]


During its nominal mission, planned for at least six years,Euclid will observe about 15,000 deg2 (4.6 sr), about a third of the sky, focusing on the extragalactic sky (the sky facing away from theMilky Way).[2] It will generate approximately 100 gigabytes of compressed data per day throughout its six-year mission.[20] The survey will be complemented by additional observations of three deep fields to 5 times thesignal-to-noise of the wide survey; the deep fields cover 50 deg2 (15.2 msr).[21] The three fields will be regularly visited during the duration of the mission. They will be used as calibration fields and to monitor the telescope and instrument performance stability as well as to produce scientific data by observing the most distant galaxies andquasars in the universe.[22] Two of the deep fields will overlap with deep fields of existing surveys[23] and the third deep field is proposed as a location for one of the LSST deep drilling fields at theVera C. Rubin Observatory.[24]
To measure a photometric redshift for each galaxy with sufficient accuracy, theEuclid mission depends on additional photometric data obtained in at least four filters at optical wavelengths. This data will be obtained from ground-based telescopes located in northern and southern hemispheres to cover the full 15,000 deg2 of the mission.[25][26] In total each galaxy of theEuclid mission will get photometric information in at least seven different filters covering the range 460–2000 nm.[27]
About 10 billion astronomical sources will be observed byEuclid, of which one billion will be used forweak lensing (to have their gravitational shear measured)[28] with a precision 50 times more accurate than was previously possible using ground-based telescopes.Euclid measures spectroscopic redshifts for at least 30 million objects to studygalaxy clustering.
The scientific exploitation of this data set is carried out by a European-led consortium of more than 1200 people in over 100 laboratories in 18 countries (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Switzerland, UK, Canada, US, and Japan).[29] The Euclid Consortium is also responsible for the construction of theEuclid instrument payload and for the development and implementation of the Euclidground segment which will process all data collected by the satellite.[28]
The laboratories contributing to the Euclid Consortium are funded and supported by their national space agencies, which also have the programmatic responsibilities of their national contribution, and by their national research structures (research agencies, observatories, universities). Overall, the Euclid Consortium contribute about 25% of the total budget cost of the mission until completion.[30]
The huge volume, diversity (space and ground, visible and near-infrared,morphometry, photometry, and spectroscopy) and the level of precision of measurements demanded considerable care and effort in the data processing, making this a critical part of the mission.ESA, the national agencies and the Euclid Consortium are spending considerable resources to set up teams of researchers and engineers in algorithm development, software development, testing and validation procedures, data archiving and data distribution infrastructures.
In total, nine Science Data Centres spread over countries of the Euclid Consortium will process more than 170petabytes of raw input images over at least 6 years to deliver data products (images, catalogues spectra) in three main public data releases in the Science Archive System of theEuclid mission to the scientific community.[31][27]
With its wide sky coverage and its catalogues of billions ofstars and galaxies, the scientific value of data collected by the mission goes beyond the scope ofcosmology. This database will provide the worldwide astronomical community with sources and targets for theJames Webb Space Telescope andAtacama Large Millimeter Array, as well as future missions such as theExtremely Large Telescope,Thirty Meter Telescope,Square Kilometer Array, and theVera C. Rubin Observatory.[32]

ESA selectedThales Alenia Space's Italian division for the construction of the spacecraft inTurin.Euclid is 4.5 metres long with a diameter of 3.1 metres and a mass of 2 tonnes.[3] TheEuclid payload module was the responsibility ofAirbus Defence and Space's French division inToulouse. It consists of a Korsch telescope with a primary mirror 1.2 meters in diameter, which covers an area of 0.91 deg2.[33][34]
The Euclid consortium, comprising scientists from 13 European countries and the United States, provided the visible-light camera (VIS)[6] and thenear-infraredspectrometer andphotometer (NISP).[7] Together, they will map the 3D distribution of up to two billion galaxies spread over more than a third of the whole sky.[35] These large-format cameras will be used to characterise themorphometric,photometric, and spectroscopic properties of galaxies.


The telescope bus includessolar panels that provide power and stabilise theorientation and pointing of the telescope to better than 35milliarcseconds (170 nrad). The telescope is insulated to ensure good thermal stability so as to not disturb the optical alignment.[citation needed]
The telecommunications system is capable of transferring 850gigabits per day. It uses theKa band andCCSDS File Delivery Protocol to send scientific data at a rate of 55 megabits per second for 4 hours per day to the 35 m dishCebreros ground station in Spain, when the telescope is above the horizon.Euclid has an onboard storage capacity of 4 terabits (500 GB).[38]
The service module (SVM) hosts most of the spacecraft subsystems:[citation needed]
AOCS provides stable pointing with a dispersion beneath 35 milli-arcseconds per visual exposure. A high thermal stability is required to protect the telescope assembly from optical misalignments at those accuracies.[39]
Euclid emerged from two mission concepts that were proposed in response to the ESA Cosmic Vision 2015–2025 Call for Proposals, issued in March 2007: DUNE, the Dark Universe Explorer, and SPACE, the Spectroscopic All-Sky Cosmic Explorer. Both missions proposed complementary techniques to measure the geometry of the universe, and after an assessment study phase, a combined mission resulted. The new mission concept was calledEuclid, honouring the Greek mathematicianEuclid of Alexandria (~300 BC), who is considered the father of geometry. In October 2011,Euclid was selected byESA's Science Programme Committee for implementation, and on 25 June 2012 it was formally adopted.[1]
NASA signed amemorandum of understanding withESA on 24 January 2013 describing its participation in the mission. NASA provided 20 detectors for the near-infrared band instrument, which operate in parallel with a camera in the visible-light band. The instruments, the telescope, and the satellite were built-in and are operated from Europe. NASA has also appointed 40 American scientists to be part of the Euclid consortium, which developed the instruments and analyse the data generated by the mission. Currently, this consortium brings together more than 1000 scientists from 13 European countries and the United States.[40]
In 2015,Euclid passed a preliminary design review, having completed a large number of technical designs as well as built and tested key components.[41] In December 2018,Euclid passed its critical design review, which validated the overall spacecraft design and mission architecture plan, and final spacecraft assembly was allowed to commence.[42] In July 2020, the two instruments (visible and NIR) were delivered to Airbus, Toulouse, France for integration with the spacecraft.[43]
After Russia withdrew in 2022 from the Soyuz-planned launch ofEuclid, theESA reassigned it to a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle, which launched on 1 July 2023 fromCape Canaveral Space Launch Complex 40.[13][44][11] Following a travel time of 30 days after launch, it began to orbit the Sun-EarthLagrangian point L2[3] in an eclipse-freehalo orbit about 1 million km wide.
Upon receiving the initial images, a problem surfaced as scientists discovered a small gap in the spacecraft's hull. This gap allowed sunlight to infiltrate the imaging sensor, resulting in a degradation of image quality.[45] To tackle this issue, the team adjusted the spacecraft's orientation by a few degrees, effectively blocking sunlight from entering the identified gap. This corrective measure resolved the problem.[46]
In May 2024 the Early Release Observations (ERO) was the first published data release.[47] This release contains images and catalogs of star-forming regions, globular clusters, nearby galaxies, fields of theFornax cluster andPerseus cluster, as well as more distant galaxy clusters.[48] The content of the ERO is described in one paper submitted toAstronomy & Astrophysics. The researchers use apipeline that can process the images in two ways: optimized for point-sources or optimized for extended sources.[49] A series of papers describe first results from ERO. These includefree-floating planetary-mass objects discovered in theSigma Orionis cluster,[50] discovery of newgravitational lenses,[51] and the discovery of adwarf satellite galaxy aroundNGC 6744.[52]
The Quick Euclid data release 1 (Q1) went live on 19th March 2025. Three deep fields can be explored onESASky, a web-based tool.[53] The data products can be accessed via the Euclid Science Archive, hosted atESAC or viaIRSA.[54][55] Q1 compromises of Euclid Deep Field North (EDF-N), Euclid Deep Field South (EDF-S), and Euclid Deep Field Fornax (EDF-F). These deep fields cover an area of 63.1 square degrees. EDF-F is centered on the same region as theChandra Deep Field South (CDFS). Euclid will continue to observe these deep fields until DR3, which will be 2 mag deeper than the Euclid Wide Survey. Additionally Q1 includes an 0.5 square degree observation ofLDN 1641 in the Orion A Cloud.[56]
A future data release is the Data Release 1 (DR1), planned for 21st October 2026.[47]
Euclid Deep Fields from the Quick Data Release 1 (Q1) that can be explored onESASky: