EARLY SURVEY PHASE

The initial months of the science mission phase will be spent starting the Euclid survey and collecting the calibration data needed to transform instrument images into the measurements used by astronomers addressing the core questions of the Euclid mission. This calibration data includes information that captures the response of the telescope point spread function to tiny changes in the telescope structure due to changes in temperature. This requires the spacecraft temperature to have stabilised.

During the first six months of the survey phase special attention to the evolution of the calibration and data processing. As the processing adapts to the in-flight performance of the instruments, the scientists and engineers responsible for the processing software ensure that the software is inline with the mission requirements.