Falcon 9 was launched from Cape Canaveral in the United States
The Barreira do Inferno Launching Center (CLBI – Centro de Lançamento da Barreira do Inferno), located in Natal (RN), a Military Organization subordinated to the Department of Aerospace Science and Technology (DCTA), participated on July 1st in the tracking of the Falcon 9 rocket, launched from Cape Canaveral, in the United States of America (USA), by the SpaceX company. The vehicle carried the Euclid space telescope, from the European Space Agency (ESA), whose mission is to explore the composition and evolution of the universe.
During Operation Euclid, the CLBI (Natal Station) ensured, in real time, during the vehicle’s passage over its cover, the collection of telemetry data, transmitted to SpaceX’s Mission Control Center. The data presented is crucial information for real-time monitoring of the conditions and trajectory of the rocket, fulfilling the protocols established for possible decision making.
To participate in the mission, the CLBI’s technical team of military and civilian personnel was trained by SpaceX and ESA for level 1 maintenance and operation of the tracking equipment used in Euclid. The qualification and accreditation of the Center’s human resources aimed to ensure safety and the possibility of local interventions, since there was no in-person participation of any member of the foreign teams at the time of the event.
“The participation and success of Operation Euclid demonstrates the operational capacity of the means and human resources of the CLBI, which could also be proven through the interaction of our civilians and military with new technologies and with state-of-the-art teams from around the world. It also served as a unique opportunity to raise the level of our team in the face of the challenges that the space area demands,” said the CLBI Director, Air Force Colonel Erivando Pereira Souza.
The space telescope transported has the objective of creating a large-scale map of the Universe’s structure, through space and time, observing billions of galaxies up to ten billion light-years across more than a third of the sky. Ultimately, it will study the expansion of the universe throughout cosmic history, revealing more about the role of gravity and the nature of energy and dark matter.
Photos: CBLI