Objective:

To create an extremely accurate 3D map of more than one and a half billion stars. To carry out spectroscopic observations of around 150 million stars, a technique used to derive many properties of distant stars and galaxies, such as their chemical composition, temperature, density, mass, distance, luminosity, and relative motion.

Launch date:

19 December 2013

Mission end:

Nominal mission ended after 5.5 years (2019), including 0.5 years commissioning. Gaia is currently in its extended mission until 31 December 2025 (subject to a mid-term review in 2022).

Launch vehicle:

Soyuz-Fregat

Launch location:

European Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana

Orbit:

Lissajous orbit around the second Lagrange point L2, 1.5 million km from the Earth in the anti-Sun direction.

Watch the video!

The video introduces Gaia mission and its scientific goals, explains how Gaia will carry out measurements, and looks at the handling of the vast amount of data gathered by the satellite.