ESA - ESA Spacecraft Operations - Planck operations

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Planck operations

The mission

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Artist's impression of Planck

Credits: ESA (Image by AOES Medialab)

The Flight Control Team

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Chris Watson is Spacecraft Operations Manager (SOM) for Planck at ESOC.

Mission operations overview

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Planck will be carried into space from the Guiana Space Centre, Kourou, French Guiana, in July 2008 by an Ariane-5 launcher. Planck will be launched together with ESA's Herschel spacecraft. The two vehicles will separate shortly after launch and proceed independently to different orbits about the second Lagrange point of the Earth-Sun system (L2).

The Ariane-5 launcher will burn its solid boosters for slightly less than 2½ minutes and its main and upper stage engines for about 25 minutes to inject Herschel and then Planck into transfer trajectories bound for L2. Upon separation, Planck will be spin stabilised.

After a journey lasting between four and six months, Planck will make a major manoeuvre to enter its operational orbit, a small Lissajous orbit around L2, 1.5 million kilometres away from the Earth.

Credits: ESA/ Guarniero

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This artist's concept shows the path of Planck to its operational orbit around the second Lagrangian point in space (L2), 1.5 million kilometres away from Earth.

Credits: ESA, image by C. Carreau

The ground station
New Norcia (DSA 1)

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ESA's first 35-metre deep-space ground station is situated at New Norcia, 140 kilometres north of Perth in Australia. The 630 tonne antenna will be used to track Rosetta and Mars Express, the latter to be launched in 2003, as well as other missions in deep space. The ground station was officially opened on 5 March 2003 by the Premier of Western Australia, Hon Dr Geoff Gallop.

Credits: ESA

Ground segment & mission control system

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