Gaia Checks Out of Antenna Testing Entombed by the distinctive foam pyramids typical of test chambers, the main antenna of the Gaia billion-star surveyor has been put through its paces ahead of launch next year. The antenna will send Gaia’s precious science data to Earth from its location 1.5 million kilometres away. Over five years, Gaia is expected to download 200 TB of data – the equivalent of nearly 45 000 standard DVDs – as it makes precise measurements of the positions of a billion stars.

Gaia Checks Out of Antenna Testing

Entombed by the distinctive foam pyramids typical of test chambers, the main antenna of the Gaia billion-star surveyor has been put through its paces ahead of launch next year.

The antenna will send Gaia’s precious science data to Earth from its location 1.5 million kilometres away.

Over five years, Gaia is expected to download 200 TB of data – the equivalent of nearly 45 000 standard DVDs – as it makes precise measurements of the positions of a billion stars.