ESA goes ahead with new space observatories
European scientific institutions have been given the go-ahead to develop instruments for two major European Space Agency (ESA) missions for the new millennium. The studies that have been approved are: - Planck, a satellite developed by ESA to study the radiation considered to be the "echo" of the Big Bang; - FIRST, an infrared space telescope. More than 80 institutes from all around Europe will collaborate to build the instruments. The go-ahead also means that ESA and European industry can begin in earnest to develop the Planck and FIRST missions. ESA's Science Programme Committee (SPC) approved the scientific instruments for both missions on 17 February 1999.