ARRAKIHS surpasses the Payload Phase A in record time
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOhkInglc20 The mission has successfully completed one of the critical phases and begins to work on central instrument to study dark matter. The European Space Agency (ESA) space mission ARRAKIHS (Analysis of Resolved Remnants of Accreted galaxies as a Key Instrument for Halo Surveys) reached an important milestone in March: the Instrument Preliminary Requirements Review (iPRR) was successfully passed. As a result, ESA approved the completion of Payload/Instrument Phase A, announcing that ARRAKIHS Payload is ready to start Phase B this May. The duration of Phase A, only 6 months, is in line with the mission’s adherence to the spirit of ESA’s fast mission program, advancing rapidly and efficiently. This Payload is the brain of ARRAKIHS, an instrument composed of two visible cameras and two infrared cameras developed by the Spanish company Satlantis to obtain the deep images of the Universe necessary for the scientific objectives of the mission. Successfully…
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…
First consortium meeting in Barcelona
The team of the ESA ‘ARRAKIHS’ mission meets at the Institute of Space Sciences Group photo of the first meeting of the ARRAKIHS Consortium at ICE./ ICE-CSIC. July 31, 2023 The research team that will lead ARRAKIHS, the first mission of the European Space Agency (ESA), has gathered at the Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC) in Barcelona for three days, during which more than 30 researchers have discussed the status of the space mission, its initial steps, and its technical, operational, and scientific challenges. During the opening session, Ignasi Ribas, a researcher at ICE-CSIC and director of the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC-CSIC), welcomed the participants to the institute, and Rafael Guzmán, a researcher from the Institute of Physics of Cantabria (IFCA, CSIC-UC) and coordinator of ARRAKIHS, provided an overview of the mission. The closing of the session was conducted by the ICE and IEEC researcher, Santiago Serrano,…
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. Simulation of the halo of one of the galaxies to be observed in the ARRAKIHS mission/. Alex Camazón (ARRAKIHS Consortium). 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…