Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale

As part of its programme, carried out over several years, to study the effects of cosmic rays effects on highly sensitivity cryogenic detectors, the IAS has developed the DRACuLA (Detector irRAdiation Cryogenic faciLity for Astrophysics) system for measuring the response of this type of detector to the impact of particles such as protons or alpha particles.

Since December 2020, the near-infrared hyperspectral microscope MicrOmega, developed by IAS, took part in the analyzes of the samples returned from the carbonaceous asteroid Ryugu by the JAXA Hayabusa2 mission. Thanks to test campaigns, with IAS participation, this high-performance instrument is now ready to analyze samples from the Bennu asteroid, brought back by OSIRIS-REx.

The first scientific results from Euclid, the European space cosmology mission, were unveiled on Thursday May 23, 2024: 15 scientific papers, including 5 general ones about the space mission, its instruments and processing, and 10 on the first astrophysical observations. These first observations and articles confirm Euclid's performances, and mark the start of the “Euclid era” for cosmology. The nominal mission will last 6 years, with partial data delivery within 1 year, and the first data delivery within 2 years.