Astrophysics

Gaia

Completed

Image: Spacecraft: ESA/ATG medialab; Milky Way: ESA/Gaia/DPAC. Acknowledgement: A. Moitinho. · CC BY-SA 3.0 igo · Wikimedia Commons

Launched: 19 Dec 201309:12:18 UTC
Last contact: 27 Mar 2025
End declared: 27 Mar 2025
Duration: 11 years 3 months
Destinations: Sun–Earth L2

An ESA mission that measured the positions, distances and motions of nearly two billion stars to build the most precise three-dimensional map of the Milky Way.

Milestones

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201420162018202020222024

Spacecraft

Gaia

Telescope

Completed

Two telescopes feeding a billion-pixel camera, spinning slowly to scan the whole sky from the Sun–Earth L2 point.

Launch mass: 1,934 kg
Dry mass: 1,392 kg
Size: diameter 3 m, span 9.5 m
Power: Solar
Built by: Astrium
Last contact: 27 Mar 2025
End declared: 27 Mar 2025
Designator: 2013-074A

Mission details from esa.int.