LAUNCH AND EARLY OPERATIONS PHASE

The launch of Euclid is scheduled for the 1st of July, 2023 from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, USA. At lift-off, the mission enters the Launch and Early Operations Phase (LEOP). After approximately 40 minutes, the spacecraft separates from the launcher, and the spacecraft performs an automated sequence of operations to put the spacecraft in a safe attitude and ready to communicate with the ESA New Norcia ground station.

Once the ground station acquires the signal from the spacecraft, the flight control team at the mission control centre checks the spacecraft's health after the launch. They switch on core spacecraft systems; communication, orbital control and storage functions. A day after launch, the flight dynamics team calculates the trajectory of the spacecraft from ground station data and calculates the first manoeuvre to correct the spacecraft's bearing on its way to L2.