May 14, 2009: TEMEX oscillators DVC4619 and DVC4620 on board of ESA's two satellites Herschel and Planck successfully launched on an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana
The satellites switched on their attitude control and telecommunications systems right after separation to re-orient themselves and establish contact with Earth for the first time from space. TEMEX' s oscillators DVC4619 and DVC 4620 (Voltage Controled Crystal Oscillators) are on board to ensure the radio transmission and signals to Earth.
The two spacecrafts have the most ambitious mission ever attempted to unveil the secrets of the darkest, coldest and oldest parts of the Universe and will be in orbit at 1.5 million kilometres from earth, on the L2 point, opposite the sun.
Herschel is equipped with the largest mirror ever launched into space and will collect data for studies on the formation of stars and galaxies as well as dust clouds and planet-forming discs around stars. It will also be the most effective tool ever devised to look for the presence of water in remote parts of the Universe.
Planck observatory is designed to scan the sky and provide data that will help determine the universe's fundamental characteristics including the overall geometry of space, the rate at which the universe is expanding to find out what it looked like more than 13 billion years ago by measuring with the best precision ever the first light given out when the universe was only 380 000 years old.
Both spacecrafts were developed in the framework of the European Space Agency's space science program and were built by Thales Alenia Space-led industry teams with the oscillators provided by TEMEX, the european leader of high precision and high reliability Frequency Solutions for Space & Defense.
Herschel Satellite TEMEX Space Oscillator Planck satellite
