The "Gaia" probe is running out of air The eye into the galaxy goes blind
The probe studied our galaxy for more than ten years. Now "Gaia" is running out of important material. But it will remain in the solar system for a long time to come.
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- After more than ten years, the "Gaia" probe is being shut down by Esa.
- "Gaia" makes an important contribution to the exploration of the Milky Way.
- Before "Gaia", it was assumed that the galaxy was a completely straight disk. According to mission manager Uwe Lammers, we now know that it is bent at the ends.
- The mission time of "Gaia" was initially planned for five years and has been more than doubled.
When "Gaia" receives her last command, she will be blind, deaf and mute. After more than ten years of the most detailed exploration of our galaxy to date, the probe will be virtually dead seconds later following a corresponding signal from the European Space Agency Esa. On Thursday, the command is to be sent to the probe from the control center in Darmstadt (Germany).
"The whole picture of the Milky Way has been redrawn," says "Gaia" mission manager Uwe Lammers in Madrid about the significance of the probe. Esa Science Director Carole Mundell recently spoke of a "treasure trove of data". Black holes, exoplanets and possible insights into the formation of our solar system - with three trillion observations, "Gaia's" data reveals a picture of the Milky Way that mankind had never seen before.
Most accurate map of the galaxy
"We are creating the most accurate map of the galaxy ever produced," says Lammers. "In the beginning, for example, the mission was designed to observe one billion stars. Now it's two and a half billion." The accuracy will continue to increase with every data set that is released. The next two data sets are expected to follow in 2026 and 2030. "Gaia" is no longer transmitting, but the mission is still running.
"Of course, we already knew a lot about the Milky Way, but "Gaia" has taken the whole thing to another level and really found so many new things that were previously unknown," says Lammers. For example, 5.7 billion years ago, a dwarf galaxy collided with the Milky Way and was captured by it. "And it may even be that our solar system was formed as a result. This was completely unknown before." The process influenced the formation of stars and perhaps our sun was also formed as a result. "That is one of the most spectacular results."
Bent Milky Way
Before "Gaia", the galaxy was thought to be a completely straight disk, smooth and flat. Now we know that it is bent at the ends. "So it looks like it's curved, bent at the edges. It's not static either, it all moves over a period of many, many millions of years," explains Lammers. Someone once compared it to a tablecloth flapping in the wind at the edge - only in cosmic time dimensions.
With "Gaia", it also became clear that there are many more black holes than initially assumed. "We always knew that there was a massive black hole with millions of solar masses in the center of our Milky Way," says Lammers. The probe has found three others that are quite close by cosmic standards. The next data sets could conceal further black holes - or even exotic, previously unknown types of objects.
Up to 5000 exoplanets, i.e. planets outside our solar system, are now known. According to Lammers, this number will probably double with the next data set.
What happens next?
"Gaia" is to be followed by further Esa missions to take a closer look at our galaxy - but the next one will probably not be before 2045 due to the long pre-planning phase, as Lammers says. "Gaia" cost around one billion euros. Its mission time was initially planned for five years and has been more than doubled.
According to the information, the probe is currently 1.5 million kilometers away from Earth. Although "Gaia" still has fuel in its tank, it has run out of the gas it needs to operate. That's the end of it. "We will then switch on the thrusters again and put "Gaia" into a solar orbit," explains Lammers. In future, the probe will move around the center of our solar system like the Earth.
