Herschel (left) and Planck (right) could revolutionise our understanding of the universe (Image: ESA)
LATER this month, the European Space Agency will launch two long-anticipated scientific missions, Herschel and Planck. It is difficult to overstate the importance of these probes. They are space science as it used to be: big and bold – and risky. Not for decades has there been so much riding on a rocket launch, literally and metaphorically.
The Herschel Space Observatory is an infrared telescope almost four times as big as its NASA rival (see New Scientist, 4 April, p 32), Spitzer. Planck will map…
