3rd ARRAKIHS Consortium Meeting, in Grindelwald, Switzerland
From September 9th to 12th, the ARRAKIHS team convened in the stunning alpine setting of Grindelwald, Switzerland, for our 3rd Consortium Meeting. The event brought together members from across the collaboration to share updates, plan for upcoming milestones, and strengthen connections as we advance this groundbreaking mission. The meeting opened with a Core Team session, where key updates on the AMC organization structure, new members, and funding plans up to Preliminary Design Review (PDR) were discussed. The morning also focused on crucial preparations for the iSRR and PDR milestones, including resource planning and deadlines. In the afternoon, we transitioned to the Plenary Sessions, where we were welcomed by Ben Moore, followed by a series of presentations highlighting the progress achieved since Phase A. Rafael Guzmán offered a detailed overview, while Carlos Corral Van Damme outlined ESA’s roadmap leading to iSRR and PDR. The day continued with updates on instrumentation, science,…
2nd Consortium Meeting in Lund, Sweden
We are thrilled to share the highlights of the recent consortium meeting of the ARRAKIHS mission, which took place in the picturesque city of Lund, Sweden, from January 17th to 19th. This gathering marked our second consortium meeting, bringing together all ARRAKIHS members to exchange insights and advancements in our mission. Led by Rafael Guzmán and Santiago Serrano, ARRAKIHS Mission and Instrument leads, the meeting started with an insightful update on the progress of our mission. Followed by updates on the specific tasks done in the different work packages. One of the notable aspects of this meeting was the presence of esteemed ESA officers who attended in person. Among them were Kate Isaac, Thibaut Bonhomme, Marco Siriano, and Carlos Vandamme, whose expertise and support have been invaluable to our mission’s success. We had intense and very productive discussions and deliberations, we were fortunate to have the opportunity to explore the…
A team from the ARRAKIHS space mission visits IFCA
The meeting is a first contact between the members of the ARRAKIHS space mission, which will search for dark matter in the universe 2 February 2023 Representatives of the European Space Agency (ESA), the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) and the Basque company Satlantis visited the Institute of Physics of Cantabria (IFCA, CSIC-UC) today to get to know what will be the coordinating research centre for the ARRAKIHS space mission, which is expected to be launched in 2030. The principal investigator of the mission, Rafael Guzmán, CSIC researcher, member of the Observational Cosmology and Instrumentation Group at IFCA and professor at the University of Florida, received the ESA team in charge of supervising the development of the ARRAKIHS mission in different aspects: Jacques Rouquet (project manager), Kate Isaak (scientific director) and Thibaut Prod’homme (payload manager). Santiago Serrano (IEEC), ARRAKIHS Instrumentation Coordinator and Chief Project Engineer at Satlanltis, and Mariangeles Gómez-Flechoso, coordinator of the Spanish ARRAKIHS node and professor at the Complutense University…
ARRAKIHS selected as F-class ESA mission
The ARRAKIHS mission will study dark matter in the universe, which is five times more abundant than ordinary matter according to cosmological observables. 2 November 2022 The Science Programme Committee of the European Space Agency (ESA) has today officially approved the selection of the ARRAKIHS mission, the first ESA Science Programme mission to be led from Spain, in particular from the Institute of Physics of Cantabria (IFCA), a joint centre of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the University of Cantabria (UC), with the aim of launching it in 2030. The team responsible for ARRAKIHS will be led by Rafael Guzmán, CSIC researcher, member of the Observational Cosmology and Instrumentation Group at IFCA and professor at the University of Florida, and a research group from the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM), the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA-CSIC), the Instituto de Ciencias del Espacio (ICE-CSIC), the Centro de Astrobiología (CAB, INTA-CSIC) and the Centro…
