The Euclid mission should make it possible to identify and understand what makes up 95% of the invisible part of the universe, namely dark energy (68%) and dark matter (27%). “We know it’s there, but we don’t know what it is,” says André Fuzfa, cosmologist from the University of Namur, summarizing the origin of Belgian participation in this project led by ESA, the European Space Agency. “We will try to understand the effects of these elements on the distribution of galaxies over billions of years.” Euclid will eventually offer 3D mapping of billions of galaxies billions of years old or younger. This will allow scientists to go back in time to better understand the effects of this invisible matter in the universe. This satellite, tested in Liège, will record 850 GB of data every day for six years. Euclid will scan the sky more than 1.5 million kilometers from Earth. This orbit is two to three months after launch on a Space Falcon 9 launch vehicle. The data collected by Euclid will be available in waves beginning in November 2023. They will be public and “serve at least one generation of scientists,” emphasizes André Fuzfa. (Belgium)
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