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{{DISPLAYTITLE:The Planck mission}}
 +
 
== Introduction ==
 
== Introduction ==
  
 
Planck is a space telescope of the European Space Agency designed to answer key cosmological questions.
 
Planck is a space telescope of the European Space Agency designed to answer key cosmological questions.
Its main goal is to determine the geometry and content of the Universe, and which theories describing the birth and evolution of the Universe are correct. To achieve this ambitious objective, it observed the [http://pdg.lbl.gov/2013/reviews/rpp2013-rev-cosmic-microwave-background.pdf   Cosmic Microwave Background radiation]  (CMB), emitted about 14 billion years ago, around 380,000 years after the Big Bang. The CMB permeates the Universe and is observed to have a blackbody spectrum with a temperature of 2.7 K. Small deviations from isotropy encode a wealth of information on the properties of the Universe in its infancy. The objective of Planck is to measure these properties with an unprecedented accuracy and level of detail.
+
Its main goal is to determine the geometry and content of the Universe, and to distinguish between specific theories describing the birth and evolution of the Universe. To achieve this ambitious objective, it observed the [http://pdg.lbl.gov/2013/reviews/rpp2013-rev-cosmic-microwave-background.pdf cosmic microwave background radiation]  (CMB), emitted about 14 billion years ago, around 380,000 years after the Big Bang. The CMB permeates the Universe and is observed to have a blackbody spectrum with a temperature of about 2.7 K. Small deviations from isotropy encode a wealth of information on the properties of the Universe in its infancy. The objective of Planck is to measure these properties with an unprecedented accuracy and level of detail.
  
[[file:Planck_Logos.jpg|thumb|300px|The Planck collaboration institutes.]]
+
[[file:Planck_Logos.jpg|thumb|300px|The Planck collaboration institutes and agencies.]]
  
 
As with all ESA scientific missions, Planck was developed in a partnership with the
 
As with all ESA scientific missions, Planck was developed in a partnership with the
European scientific community. [[Planck Collaboration|Two consortia of scientific institutes]], each led by a Principal
+
European scientific community. [[Planck Collaboration|Two consortia of scientific institutes]] (supported by several funding agencies),
Investigator, developed and delivered to ESA two instruments designed specifically for
+
each led by a Principal Investigator, developed and delivered to ESA an instrument designed specifically for
 
Planck. Each of these instruments targets a specific number of wavelength bands within the
 
Planck. Each of these instruments targets a specific number of wavelength bands within the
range in which the CMB is observable. Together, the two instruments are capable of collecting
+
range where the CMB is observable. Together, the two instruments are capable of collecting
data of a quality adequate to measure the CMB signal and distinguish it from other confusing
+
data of sufficient quality to measure the CMB signal and distinguish it from other confusing
sources. A large telescope collects the light from the sky and deliver it to the instruments
+
sources. A large telescope collected the light from the sky and delivered it to the instruments
 
for measurement and analysis. The reflectors of the Planck telescope were developed and
 
for measurement and analysis. The reflectors of the Planck telescope were developed and
delivered to ESA by a Danish consortium of institutes.
+
delivered to ESA by a Danish consortium of institutes.  NASA also contributed significantly to Planck.
ESA retains overall management of the project, develops and procures the spacecraft, integrates
+
ESA retains overall management of the project, including the responsibility to develop and procure the spacecraft, integrate
the instruments into the spacecraft, and launches and operates it. Planck was launched on May 14th 2009 on an Ariane 5 rocket together with the Herschel
+
the instruments into the spacecraft, and launch and operate it. Planck was launched on May 14th 2009 on an Ariane 5 rocket,
Space Observatory. After launch, they were both
+
together with the Herschel Space Observatory. After launch, they were both
placed into orbits around the L2 Lagrange of the Sun-Earth system, located about 1.5 million km from the Earth. From that far
+
placed into orbits around the second Lagrange point of the Sun-Earth system, located about 1.5 million km from the Earth. From that far
vantage point, Planck sweeped the sky regularly in large swaths, and covered it fully
+
vantage point, Planck swept the sky regularly in large swaths, and covered it fully
about six times.
+
about five times for the HFI and eight times for the LFI.
 
Each of the two instrument consortia operated their respective instrument and processed
 
Each of the two instrument consortia operated their respective instrument and processed
all the data into usable scientific products. At the end of the mission the consortia delivered the final products to ESA, which archives them
+
all the data into usable scientific products. At specific intervals the consortia delivered the data products to ESA, which archives them
 
and distributes them to the community.
 
and distributes them to the community.
  
[[file:PlanckMissionTimeline.JPG|thumb|480px|A timeline of the Planck operations and archiving.]]
+
The last command to the Planck satellite was sent on the 23 October 2013, marking the end of operations.
 +
[[file:PlanckMissionTimelineV2.png|thumb|480px|Timeline of the Planck operations and archiving.]]
  
 
== Early operations and transfer to orbit ==
 
== Early operations and transfer to orbit ==
 
Planck was launched from the Centre Spatial Guyanais in
 
Planck was launched from the Centre Spatial Guyanais in
 
Kourou (French Guyana) on 14 May 2009 at its nominal lift-off
 
Kourou (French Guyana) on 14 May 2009 at its nominal lift-off
time of 13:12 UT, on an Ariane 5 ECA rocket of Arianespace2.
+
time of 13:12 UT, on an Ariane 5 ECA rocket of Arianespace.
 
ESA’s Herschel observatory was launched on the same rocket.
 
ESA’s Herschel observatory was launched on the same rocket.
 
At 13:37:55 UT, Herschel was released from the rocket at an altitude
 
At 13:37:55 UT, Herschel was released from the rocket at an altitude
Line 37: Line 40:
 
The Ariane rocket placed Planck with excellent accuracy (semimajor
 
The Ariane rocket placed Planck with excellent accuracy (semimajor
 
axis within 1.6 % of prediction), on a trajectory towards
 
axis within 1.6 % of prediction), on a trajectory towards
the second Lagrangian point of the Earth-Sun system (L2)
+
the second Lagrangian point of the Earth-Sun system (L2). The orbit describes a Lissajous trajectory
. The orbit describes a Lissajous trajectory
+
around L2 with a roughly six month period that avoids crossing
around L2 with a ∼6 month period that avoids crossing
+
the Earth penumbra for at least four years.
the Earth penumbra for at least 4 years.
 
  
[[file:HerschelPlanckLaunch.jpg|thumb|200px|The Herschel and Planck spacecrafts in the launch vehicle configuration.]]
+
[[file:HerschelPlanckLaunch.jpg|thumb|200px|Herschel and Planck spacecraft in the launch vehicle configuration.]]
  
[[file:PLANCK_HERSCHEL_LAUNCH.jpg|thumb|200px|The Herschel and Planck launch by an Ariane 5 ECA rocket.]]
+
[[file:PLANCK_HERSCHEL_LAUNCH.jpg|thumb|200px|Herschel and Planck launch by an Ariane 5 ECA rocket in May 2009.]]
  
 
After release from the rocket, three large manoeuvres were
 
After release from the rocket, three large manoeuvres were
 
carried out to place Planck in its intended final orbit.
 
carried out to place Planck in its intended final orbit.
Once in its final orbit, very small manoeuvres are required at approximately
+
Once in its final orbit, very small manoeuvres were required at approximately
monthly intervals (1 ms−1 per year) to keep Planck
+
monthly intervals (1 m/s per year) to keep Planck
 
from drifting away from its intended path around L2. The attitude
 
from drifting away from its intended path around L2. The attitude
manoeuvres required to followthe scanning strategy require
+
manoeuvres required to follow the scanning strategy need
about 2.6 ms−1 per year. Overall, the excellent performance
+
about 2.6 m/s per year. Overall, the excellent performance
of launch and orbit manoeuvres will lead to a large amount
+
of launch and orbit manoeuvres led to a large amount of fuel remaining on board at end of mission operations.
(∼160 kg, or ∼40% of initial tank loading) of fuel remaining
 
on board at end of mission operations.
 
  
 
Planck started cooling down radiatively shortly after launch.
 
Planck started cooling down radiatively shortly after launch.
Line 72: Line 72:
 
The first period of operations focussed on commissioning activities,
 
The first period of operations focussed on commissioning activities,
 
i.e., functional check-out procedures of all sub-systems and
 
i.e., functional check-out procedures of all sub-systems and
instruments of the Planck spacecraft in preparation for running
+
instruments of the Planck spacecraft, in preparation for running
 
science operations related to calibration and performance verification
 
science operations related to calibration and performance verification
 
of the payload. Planning for commissioning operations
 
of the payload. Planning for commissioning operations
Line 98: Line 98:
 
planned activities, it was concluded that the two instruments were fully tuned and ready for routine
 
planned activities, it was concluded that the two instruments were fully tuned and ready for routine
 
operations. No further parameter tuning was expected
 
operations. No further parameter tuning was expected
to be needed, except for the sorption cooler, which requires
+
to be needed, except for the sorption cooler, which required
 
a weekly change in operational parameters.
 
a weekly change in operational parameters.
 
The scientific performance parameters of both instruments
 
The scientific performance parameters of both instruments
was in most respects as had been measured on the ground before
+
were in most respects as had been measured on the ground before
 
launch. The only significant exception was that, due to
 
launch. The only significant exception was that, due to
 
the high level of Galactic cosmic rays, the bolometers of HFI
 
the high level of Galactic cosmic rays, the bolometers of HFI
 
were detecting a higher number of glitches than expected,
 
were detecting a higher number of glitches than expected,
causing a modest (∼10%) level of systematic effects on
+
causing a modest (about 10%) increase of systematic effects on
their noise properties. The satellite did not introduce any major systematic effects
+
their noise levels. The satellite did not introduce any major systematic effects
 
into the science data. In particular, the telemetry transponder
 
into the science data. In particular, the telemetry transponder
 
did not result in radio-frequency interference, which implies
 
did not result in radio-frequency interference, which implies
that the data acquired during visibility periods is useable for
+
that the data acquired during visibility periods is usable for
 
science.
 
science.
  
Line 127: Line 127:
  
 
== Routine operations phase ==
 
== Routine operations phase ==
The routine operations phase of Planck is characterised by continuous
+
The routine operations phase of Planck is characterized by continuous
 
and stable scanning of the sky and data acquisition by
 
and stable scanning of the sky and data acquisition by
LFI and HFI. It started with the FLS on 13 August of 2009, at
+
LFI and HFI. It started with the FLS on 13 August 2009.
14:15 UT.
 
  
The Planck satellite generates (and stores on-board) data
+
The Planck satellite generated (and stored on-board) data
continuously at the following typical rates: 21 kilobit s−1 (kbps)
+
continuously at the following typical rates: 21 kilobit/s (kbps)
 
of house-keeping (HK) data from all on-board sources, 44 kbps
 
of house-keeping (HK) data from all on-board sources, 44 kbps
 
of LFI science data and 72 kbps of HFI science data. The data
 
of LFI science data and 72 kbps of HFI science data. The data
are brought to ground in a daily pass of approximately 3 h duration.
+
were brought to ground in a daily pass of approximately 3 h duration.
Besides the data downloads, the passes also acquire realtime
+
Besides the data downloads, the passes also acquired realtime
 
HK and a 20 min period of real-time science (used to monitor
 
HK and a 20 min period of real-time science (used to monitor
instrument performance during the pass). Planck utilises the
+
instrument performance during the pass). Planck utilized the
 
two ESA deep-space ground stations in New Norcia (Australia)
 
two ESA deep-space ground stations in New Norcia (Australia)
and Cebreros (Spain), usually the former. Scheduling of the daily
+
and Cebreros (Spain). Scheduling of the daily
telecommunication period is quite stable, with small perturbations
+
telecommunication period was quite stable, with small perturbations
 
due to the need to coordinate the use of the antenna with
 
due to the need to coordinate the use of the antenna with
 
other ESA satellites (in particular Herschel).
 
other ESA satellites (in particular Herschel).
At the ground station the telemetry is received by redundant
+
At the ground station the telemetry was received by redundant
chains of front-end/back-end equipment. The data flows to the
+
chains of front-end/back-end equipment. The data flowed to the
 
mission operations control centre (MOC) located at ESOC in
 
mission operations control centre (MOC) located at ESOC in
Darmstadt (Germany), where it is processed by redundant mission
+
Darmstadt (Germany), where they were processed by redundant mission
 
control software (MCS) installations and made available to
 
control software (MCS) installations and made available to
 
the science ground segment. To reduce bandwidth requirements
 
the science ground segment. To reduce bandwidth requirements
 
between the station and ESOC only one set of science telemetry
 
between the station and ESOC only one set of science telemetry
is usually transferred. Software is run post-pass to check the
+
was usually transferred. Software was run post-pass to check the
completeness of the data. This software check is also used to
+
completeness of the data. This software check was also used to
build a catalogue of data completeness, which is used by the science
+
build a catalogue of data completeness, which was used by the science
 
ground segment to control its own data transfer process.
 
ground segment to control its own data transfer process.
Where gaps are detected, attempts to fill them are made as an
+
Where gaps were detected, attempts to fill them were made as an
 
offline activity (normally next working day), the first step being
 
offline activity (normally next working day), the first step being
 
to attempt to reflow the relevant data from station. Early in
 
to attempt to reflow the relevant data from station. Early in
 
the mission these gaps were more frequent, with some hundreds
 
the mission these gaps were more frequent, with some hundreds
 
of packets affected per week (impact on data return of order
 
of packets affected per week (impact on data return of order
50 ppm) due principally to a combination of software problems
+
50 ppm), due principally to a combination of software problems
 
with the data ingestion and distribution in the MCS, and imperfect
 
with the data ingestion and distribution in the MCS, and imperfect
 
behaviour of the software gap check. Software updates implemented
 
behaviour of the software gap check. Software updates implemented
during the mission have improved the situation such
+
during the mission improved the situation, such
that gaps are much rarer, with a total impact on data return well
+
that gaps became much rarer, with a total impact on data return well
 
below 1 ppm.
 
below 1 ppm.
Redump of data from the spacecraft is attempted when there
+
Redump of data from the spacecraft was attempted when there
have been losses in the space link. This has only been necessary
+
had been losses in the space link. This was only necessary
on three occasions. In each case the spacecraft redump has
+
on very few occasions. In each case the spacecraft redump
 
successfully recovered all the data.
 
successfully recovered all the data.
  
 
All the data downloaded from the satellite, and processed
 
All the data downloaded from the satellite, and processed
products such as filtered attitude information, are made available
+
products such as filtered attitude information, were made available
 
each day for retrieval from the MOC by the LFI and HFI
 
each day for retrieval from the MOC by the LFI and HFI
Data Processing Centres (DPCs).
+
data processing centres (DPCs).
  
The scanning strategy is the following: the spin axis follows a cycloidal path on the sky by step-wise displacements of 2 arcmin
+
The scanning strategy was the following: the spin axis follows a cycloidal path on the sky by step-wise displacements of 2 arcmin
 
approximately every 50 min. The dwell time (i.e., the duration of
 
approximately every 50 min. The dwell time (i.e., the duration of
stable data acquisition at each pointing) has varied sinusoidally
+
stable data acquisition at each pointing) varied sinusoidally
by a factor of ∼2.
+
by a factor of approximately 2.
Planck’s scanning strategy results
+
Planck’s scanning strategy resulted
 
in significantly inhomogeneous depth of integration time
 
in significantly inhomogeneous depth of integration time
across the sky; the areas near the ecliptic poles are observed
+
across the sky; the areas near the ecliptic poles were observed
 
with greater depth than all others.
 
with greater depth than all others.
  
 
The scanning strategy for the second year of Routine
 
The scanning strategy for the second year of Routine
Operations (i.e., Surveys 3 and 4) is exactly the same as for the
+
Operations was exactly the same as for the
first year, except that all pointings are shifted by 1 arcmin along
+
first year, except that all pointings were shifted by 1 arcmin along
 
the cross-scanning direction, in order to provide finer sky sampling
 
the cross-scanning direction, in order to provide finer sky sampling
 
for the highest frequency detectors when combining two
 
for the highest frequency detectors when combining two
 
years of observations.
 
years of observations.
 +
 +
The remaining two years of operations, including Surveys 6 to 8 of the LFI-only phase, made use of a change in the cycloid phase of 90 degrees in order to spread out scanning directions over the sky.
  
 
Orbit maintenance manoeuvres were carried out at approximately
 
Orbit maintenance manoeuvres were carried out at approximately
monthly intervals6. Although the manoeuvres only
+
monthly intervals. Although the manoeuvres only
required a few minutes, preparations, post-manoeuvre massproperty
+
required a few minutes, preparations, post-manoeuvre mass properties
 
calibration, and re-entry into scientific slewing mode
 
calibration, and re-entry into scientific slewing mode
 
increased the overhead to several hours. The manoeuvres were
 
increased the overhead to several hours. The manoeuvres were
Line 202: Line 203:
 
pre-planned pointings to be carried out.
 
pre-planned pointings to be carried out.
  
While the Planck detectors are scanning the sky, they also naturally
+
While the Planck detectors were scanning the sky, they also naturally
observe celestial calibrators. The main objects used for this
+
observed celestial calibrators. The main objects used for this
purpose are the Crab Nebula, and the bright planets Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.
+
purpose were the Crab Nebula, and the bright planets Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.
 +
 
 +
==Major operational milestones==
 +
Planck was launched from the Centre Spatial Guyanais in
 +
Kourou (French Guyana) on 14 May 2009 at its nominal lift-off
 +
time of 13:12 UT, on an Ariane 5 ECA rocket of Arianespace.
 +
 
 +
On 13 August 2009, Planck started its first all-sky survey after successfully concluding its commissioning phase.
 +
 
 +
On 14 January 2012, Planck’s HFI completed its survey of the early Universe after running out of coolant as expected. Able to work at higher temperatures, the LFI continued surveying the sky until 3 October 2013.
  
== Payload performance ==
+
On 4 October 2013 Planck ended its routine operations, after executing its last observation of the Crab Nebula, and started its decommissioning activities.
The main achievements in terms of payload performance are the following:
 
  
* the angular resolution measured on planets is within a few per cent of that predicted on the ground
+
On 19 October 2013, the sorption cooler and the two instruments (LFI and HFI) were switched off.
  
* the instantaneous sensitivity of the Planck LFI and HFI channels is estimated to be approximately 10% larger than that measured on the ground and extrapolated to launch conditions
+
The final command to the Planck satellite was sent on 23 October 2013, marking the end of operations.
  
* the photometric calibration uncertainty quoted is conservatively based on the current knowledge of systematic effects and data processing pipelines. There is no reason to believe that the mission goals (1% in CMB channels and 3% at the highest frequencies) will not be reached for all Planck channels in due time.
+
==Contingencies==
 +
 
 +
The main unplanned events included the following.
 +
 
 +
* Very minor deviations from the scanning law included occasional (on the average about once every two months) under-performance of the 1-N thrusters used for regular manoeuvres, which implied that the corresponding pointings were not at the intended locations. These deviations had typical amplitudes of 30 arcsec, and had no significant impact on the coverage map.
 +
 
 +
* The thruster heaters were unintentionally turned off between 31 August and 16 September 2009 (the so-called “catbed” event).
 +
 
 +
* An operator error in the upload of the on-board command timeline led to an interruption of the normal sequence of manoeuvres and therefore to Planck pointing to the same location on the sky for a period of 29 h between 20 and 21 November 2009 (“the day Planck stood still”). Observations of the nominal scanning pattern resumed on 22 November, and on 23 November a recovery operation was applied to survey the previously missed area. During the recovery period the duration of pointing was decreased to allow the nominal law to be caught up with. As a side effect, the RF transmitter was left on for longer than 24 h, which had a significant thermal impact on the warm part of the satellite.
 +
 
 +
* As planned, the RF transmitter was initially turned on and off every day in synchrony with the daily visibility window, in order to reduce potential interference by the transmitter on the scientific data. The induced daily temperature variation had a measurable effect throughout the satellite. An important effect was on the temperature of the 4He-JT cooler compressors, which caused variations of the levels of the interference lines that they induce on the bolometer data (Planck HFI Core Team 2011a). Therefore the RF transmitter was left permanently on starting from 25 January 2010 (257 days after launch), which made a noticeable improvement on the daily temperature variations.
 +
 
 +
* During the coverage period, the operational star tracker switched autonomously to the redundant unit on two occasions (11 January 2010 and 26 February 2010); the nominal star tracker was restored a short period later (3.37 and 12.75 h, respectively) by manual power-cycling. Although the science data taken during this period have normal quality, they have not been used, because the redundant star tracker’s performance is not fully characterized.
 +
 
 +
For more information, see {{BibCite|planck2011-1-1}}. For a complete list of operational events, including contigencies, see the [[Planck operational state history | POSH]] (Planck operational state history).
  
 
==For more information==
 
==For more information==
  
A complete overview of the Planck mission and its science programme can be found in the Blue Book [[http://www.sciops.esa.int/SA/PLANCK/docs/Bluebook-ESA-SCI%282005%291_V2.pdf]].
+
A complete overview of the Planck mission and its science programme can be found in the [http://www.sciops.esa.int/SA/PLANCK/docs/Bluebook-ESA-SCI%282005%291_V2.pdf Blue Book].
  
More details on the Planck mission performance can be found in <cite>#planck2011-1-1</cite>, {{PEarly|1}}.
+
More details on the Planck mission performance can be found in {{BibCite|planck2011-1-1}}, .
  
A complete list of Planck publications can be found here [http://www.sciops.esa.int/index.php?project=PLANCK&page=Planck_Published_Papers].
+
A complete list of Planck publications can be found [http://www.sciops.esa.int/index.php?project=PLANCK&page=Planck_Published_Papers here].
  
 
==References==
 
==References==
<biblio force=false>
+
<References />
#[[References]]
+
</biblio>
+
 
  
[[Category:The Planck mission|000]]
+
[[Category:Introduction|001]]
 
[[Category:PSOBook]]
 
[[Category:PSOBook]]

Latest revision as of 18:59, 14 October 2014


Introduction[edit]

Planck is a space telescope of the European Space Agency designed to answer key cosmological questions. Its main goal is to determine the geometry and content of the Universe, and to distinguish between specific theories describing the birth and evolution of the Universe. To achieve this ambitious objective, it observed the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB), emitted about 14 billion years ago, around 380,000 years after the Big Bang. The CMB permeates the Universe and is observed to have a blackbody spectrum with a temperature of about 2.7 K. Small deviations from isotropy encode a wealth of information on the properties of the Universe in its infancy. The objective of Planck is to measure these properties with an unprecedented accuracy and level of detail.

The Planck collaboration institutes and agencies.

As with all ESA scientific missions, Planck was developed in a partnership with the European scientific community. Two consortia of scientific institutes (supported by several funding agencies), each led by a Principal Investigator, developed and delivered to ESA an instrument designed specifically for Planck. Each of these instruments targets a specific number of wavelength bands within the range where the CMB is observable. Together, the two instruments are capable of collecting data of sufficient quality to measure the CMB signal and distinguish it from other confusing sources. A large telescope collected the light from the sky and delivered it to the instruments for measurement and analysis. The reflectors of the Planck telescope were developed and delivered to ESA by a Danish consortium of institutes. NASA also contributed significantly to Planck. ESA retains overall management of the project, including the responsibility to develop and procure the spacecraft, integrate the instruments into the spacecraft, and launch and operate it. Planck was launched on May 14th 2009 on an Ariane 5 rocket, together with the Herschel Space Observatory. After launch, they were both placed into orbits around the second Lagrange point of the Sun-Earth system, located about 1.5 million km from the Earth. From that far vantage point, Planck swept the sky regularly in large swaths, and covered it fully about five times for the HFI and eight times for the LFI. Each of the two instrument consortia operated their respective instrument and processed all the data into usable scientific products. At specific intervals the consortia delivered the data products to ESA, which archives them and distributes them to the community.

The last command to the Planck satellite was sent on the 23 October 2013, marking the end of operations.

Timeline of the Planck operations and archiving.

Early operations and transfer to orbit[edit]

Planck was launched from the Centre Spatial Guyanais in Kourou (French Guyana) on 14 May 2009 at its nominal lift-off time of 13:12 UT, on an Ariane 5 ECA rocket of Arianespace. ESA’s Herschel observatory was launched on the same rocket. At 13:37:55 UT, Herschel was released from the rocket at an altitude of 1200 km; Planck followed suit at 13:40:25UT. The separation attitudes of both satellites were within 0.1 deg. of prediction. The Ariane rocket placed Planck with excellent accuracy (semimajor axis within 1.6 % of prediction), on a trajectory towards the second Lagrangian point of the Earth-Sun system (L2). The orbit describes a Lissajous trajectory around L2 with a roughly six month period that avoids crossing the Earth penumbra for at least four years.

Herschel and Planck spacecraft in the launch vehicle configuration.
Herschel and Planck launch by an Ariane 5 ECA rocket in May 2009.

After release from the rocket, three large manoeuvres were carried out to place Planck in its intended final orbit. Once in its final orbit, very small manoeuvres were required at approximately monthly intervals (1 m/s per year) to keep Planck from drifting away from its intended path around L2. The attitude manoeuvres required to follow the scanning strategy need about 2.6 m/s per year. Overall, the excellent performance of launch and orbit manoeuvres led to a large amount of fuel remaining on board at end of mission operations.

Planck started cooling down radiatively shortly after launch. Heaters were activated to hold the focal plane at 250 K, which was reached around 5 h after launch. The valve opening the exhaust piping of the dilution cooler was activated at 03:30 UT, and the 4He-JT cooler compressors were turned on at low stroke at 05:20 UT. After these essential operations were completed, on the second day after launch, the focal plane temperature was allowed to descend to 170 K for out-gassing and decontamination of the telescope and focal plane.

Commissioning and initial science operations[edit]

Commissioning[edit]

The first period of operations focussed on commissioning activities, i.e., functional check-out procedures of all sub-systems and instruments of the Planck spacecraft, in preparation for running science operations related to calibration and performance verification of the payload. Planning for commissioning operations was driven by the telescope decontamination period of 2 weeks and the subsequent cryogenic cool-down of the payload and instruments. The overall duration of the cool-down was approximately 2 months, including the decontamination period. The commissioning activities were executed very smoothly and all sub-systems were found to be in good health. The commissioning activities were formally completed at the time when the HFI bolometer stage reached its target temperature of 100 mK, on 3 July 2009 at 01:00 UT. At this time all the critical resource budgets (power, fuel, lifetime, etc.) were found to contain very significant margins with respect to the original specification.

Schematics of the cool-down sequence, from Planck Coll. 2011, A&A 536, A1.

Calibration and performance verification[edit]

Calibration and performance verification (CPV) activities started during the cool-down period and continued until the end of August 2009. On completion of all the planned activities, it was concluded that the two instruments were fully tuned and ready for routine operations. No further parameter tuning was expected to be needed, except for the sorption cooler, which required a weekly change in operational parameters. The scientific performance parameters of both instruments were in most respects as had been measured on the ground before launch. The only significant exception was that, due to the high level of Galactic cosmic rays, the bolometers of HFI were detecting a higher number of glitches than expected, causing a modest (about 10%) increase of systematic effects on their noise levels. The satellite did not introduce any major systematic effects into the science data. In particular, the telemetry transponder did not result in radio-frequency interference, which implies that the data acquired during visibility periods is usable for science.

First-Light Survey[edit]

The First Light Survey (FLS) was the last major activity planned before the start of routine surveying of the sky. It was conceived as a two-week period during which Planck would be fully tuned up and operated as if it was in its routine phase. This stable period could have resulted in the identification of further tuning activities required to optimise the performance of Planck in the long-duration surveys to come. The FLS was conducted between 13 and 27 August, and in fact led to the conclusion that the Planck payload was operating stably and optimally, and required no further tuning of its instruments. Therefore the period of the FLS was accepted as a valid part of the first Planck survey.

Routine operations phase[edit]

The routine operations phase of Planck is characterized by continuous and stable scanning of the sky and data acquisition by LFI and HFI. It started with the FLS on 13 August 2009.

The Planck satellite generated (and stored on-board) data continuously at the following typical rates: 21 kilobit/s (kbps) of house-keeping (HK) data from all on-board sources, 44 kbps of LFI science data and 72 kbps of HFI science data. The data were brought to ground in a daily pass of approximately 3 h duration. Besides the data downloads, the passes also acquired realtime HK and a 20 min period of real-time science (used to monitor instrument performance during the pass). Planck utilized the two ESA deep-space ground stations in New Norcia (Australia) and Cebreros (Spain). Scheduling of the daily telecommunication period was quite stable, with small perturbations due to the need to coordinate the use of the antenna with other ESA satellites (in particular Herschel). At the ground station the telemetry was received by redundant chains of front-end/back-end equipment. The data flowed to the mission operations control centre (MOC) located at ESOC in Darmstadt (Germany), where they were processed by redundant mission control software (MCS) installations and made available to the science ground segment. To reduce bandwidth requirements between the station and ESOC only one set of science telemetry was usually transferred. Software was run post-pass to check the completeness of the data. This software check was also used to build a catalogue of data completeness, which was used by the science ground segment to control its own data transfer process. Where gaps were detected, attempts to fill them were made as an offline activity (normally next working day), the first step being to attempt to reflow the relevant data from station. Early in the mission these gaps were more frequent, with some hundreds of packets affected per week (impact on data return of order 50 ppm), due principally to a combination of software problems with the data ingestion and distribution in the MCS, and imperfect behaviour of the software gap check. Software updates implemented during the mission improved the situation, such that gaps became much rarer, with a total impact on data return well below 1 ppm. Redump of data from the spacecraft was attempted when there had been losses in the space link. This was only necessary on very few occasions. In each case the spacecraft redump successfully recovered all the data.

All the data downloaded from the satellite, and processed products such as filtered attitude information, were made available each day for retrieval from the MOC by the LFI and HFI data processing centres (DPCs).

The scanning strategy was the following: the spin axis follows a cycloidal path on the sky by step-wise displacements of 2 arcmin approximately every 50 min. The dwell time (i.e., the duration of stable data acquisition at each pointing) varied sinusoidally by a factor of approximately 2. Planck’s scanning strategy resulted in significantly inhomogeneous depth of integration time across the sky; the areas near the ecliptic poles were observed with greater depth than all others.

The scanning strategy for the second year of Routine Operations was exactly the same as for the first year, except that all pointings were shifted by 1 arcmin along the cross-scanning direction, in order to provide finer sky sampling for the highest frequency detectors when combining two years of observations.

The remaining two years of operations, including Surveys 6 to 8 of the LFI-only phase, made use of a change in the cycloid phase of 90 degrees in order to spread out scanning directions over the sky.

Orbit maintenance manoeuvres were carried out at approximately monthly intervals. Although the manoeuvres only required a few minutes, preparations, post-manoeuvre mass properties calibration, and re-entry into scientific slewing mode increased the overhead to several hours. The manoeuvres were carried out without disturbing the path of the spin axis from its nominal scanning law. The dwell times of pointings before and after the execution of the manoeuvre were reduced to allow all pre-planned pointings to be carried out.

While the Planck detectors were scanning the sky, they also naturally observed celestial calibrators. The main objects used for this purpose were the Crab Nebula, and the bright planets Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.

Major operational milestones[edit]

Planck was launched from the Centre Spatial Guyanais in Kourou (French Guyana) on 14 May 2009 at its nominal lift-off time of 13:12 UT, on an Ariane 5 ECA rocket of Arianespace.

On 13 August 2009, Planck started its first all-sky survey after successfully concluding its commissioning phase.

On 14 January 2012, Planck’s HFI completed its survey of the early Universe after running out of coolant as expected. Able to work at higher temperatures, the LFI continued surveying the sky until 3 October 2013.

On 4 October 2013 Planck ended its routine operations, after executing its last observation of the Crab Nebula, and started its decommissioning activities.

On 19 October 2013, the sorption cooler and the two instruments (LFI and HFI) were switched off.

The final command to the Planck satellite was sent on 23 October 2013, marking the end of operations.

Contingencies[edit]

The main unplanned events included the following.

  • Very minor deviations from the scanning law included occasional (on the average about once every two months) under-performance of the 1-N thrusters used for regular manoeuvres, which implied that the corresponding pointings were not at the intended locations. These deviations had typical amplitudes of 30 arcsec, and had no significant impact on the coverage map.
  • The thruster heaters were unintentionally turned off between 31 August and 16 September 2009 (the so-called “catbed” event).
  • An operator error in the upload of the on-board command timeline led to an interruption of the normal sequence of manoeuvres and therefore to Planck pointing to the same location on the sky for a period of 29 h between 20 and 21 November 2009 (“the day Planck stood still”). Observations of the nominal scanning pattern resumed on 22 November, and on 23 November a recovery operation was applied to survey the previously missed area. During the recovery period the duration of pointing was decreased to allow the nominal law to be caught up with. As a side effect, the RF transmitter was left on for longer than 24 h, which had a significant thermal impact on the warm part of the satellite.
  • As planned, the RF transmitter was initially turned on and off every day in synchrony with the daily visibility window, in order to reduce potential interference by the transmitter on the scientific data. The induced daily temperature variation had a measurable effect throughout the satellite. An important effect was on the temperature of the 4He-JT cooler compressors, which caused variations of the levels of the interference lines that they induce on the bolometer data (Planck HFI Core Team 2011a). Therefore the RF transmitter was left permanently on starting from 25 January 2010 (257 days after launch), which made a noticeable improvement on the daily temperature variations.
  • During the coverage period, the operational star tracker switched autonomously to the redundant unit on two occasions (11 January 2010 and 26 February 2010); the nominal star tracker was restored a short period later (3.37 and 12.75 h, respectively) by manual power-cycling. Although the science data taken during this period have normal quality, they have not been used, because the redundant star tracker’s performance is not fully characterized.

For more information, see [1]. For a complete list of operational events, including contigencies, see the POSH (Planck operational state history).

For more information[edit]

A complete overview of the Planck mission and its science programme can be found in the Blue Book.

More details on the Planck mission performance can be found in [1], .

A complete list of Planck publications can be found here.

References[edit]

  1. 1.01.1 Planck early results. I. The Planck mission, Planck Collaboration I, A&A, 536, A1, (2011).

Cosmic Microwave background

European Space Agency

(Planck) High Frequency Instrument

(Planck) Low Frequency Instrument

Calibration and Performance Verification

House Keeping

[ESA's] Mission Operation Center [Darmstadt, Germany]

European Space Operations Centre (Darmstadt)

[LFI meaning]: absolute calibration refers to the 0th order calibration for each channel, 1 single number, while the relative calibration refers to the component of the calibration that varies pointing period by pointing period.