Gaia
Gaia was ESA's 2013-2025 astrometry observatory. From a Lissajous orbit around Sun-Earth L2 it made more than three trillion measurements of nearly two billion stars and other objects, creating the most precise multidimensional map of the Milky Way; DPAC continues transforming the full mission archive into successive catalogues.
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Identity
- Aliases
- ESA GaiaGaia billion-star surveyorGlobal Astrometric Interferometer for Astrophysics
- Name
- Gaia
- Status
- completed
Details
- Astronauts
- -
- Description
- Gaia was ESA's 2013-2025 astrometry observatory. From a Lissajous orbit around Sun-Earth L2 it made more than three trillion measurements of nearly two billion stars and other objects, creating the most precise multidimensional map of the Milky Way; DPAC continues transforming the full mission archive into successive catalogues.
- Destination
- Lissajous orbit around the Sun–Earth L2 point, approximately 1.5 million km from Earth, with a roughly 180-day period and an orbit about 200,000 × 200,000 × 90,000 km, for mapping the positions, motions, luminosities, temperatures, and compositions of nearly two billion stars and other Milky Way objects
- End Date
- 2025-03-27
- Launch Site
- Outcome
- Successful. Gaia completed 10.5 years of science observations, measured nearly two billion objects more than three trillion times, transformed Milky Way astrometry through multiple data releases, and was safely moved from L2 into a heliocentric retirement orbit and passivated on March 27, 2025. Final legacy catalogues remain in processing.
- Programs
- Start Date
- 2013-12-19
- Vehicle Families
Links
- Wikipedia Url
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia_spacecraft
Assets & Meta
- Creation Time
- April 26, 2026 at 14:16:51 UTC
- Updated Time
- August 22, 2026 at 14:20:01 UTC
- Image
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Other
- Affiliations
- Space Stations
- -
- Vehicles