A&A 520, E1 (2010)

DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/201015611
c ESO 2010
Astronomy
&
Astrophysics
Pre-launch status of the Planck mission Special feature
Editorial
Pre-launch status of the Planck mission
This A&A issue features 13 articles describing the pre-ight status of the European Space Agency Planck mission, launched
together with the Herschel satellite on 14 May 2009. The Planck mission is designed to image the anisotropies of the cosmic
background radiation eld over the whole sky, with unprecedented sensitivity and angular resolution, as well as a wide frequency
range. As a byproduct of that main goal, it will simultaneously address a wide range of galactic and extragalactic science. The
mission involves more than four hundred scientists, who are currently working on data processing, calibration, and data analysis.
The satellite is scheduled to continuously acquire high-quality science data until the end of 2011. An early release of the compact
source catalogue will be delivered in January 2011, together with a small set of science papers related to foreground astrophysical
sources. The rst major cosmology results will be delivered in December 2012.
In this special feature, the telescopes optical system and the design, ground calibration, and performance of the Planck low-
and high-frequency instruments are described in detail.
C. Bertout and T. Forveille
Astronomy & Astrophysics Editors
Article published by EDP Sciences Page 1 of 1