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Space
Space
Science
Robert Lea

Goodnight, Gaia! ESA spacecraft shuts down after 12 years of Milky Way mapping

ESA Milky way Earth European Space Agency Kareem ElBadry the Milky Way
An illustration shows the shutdown Gaia spacecraft telescope drift between Earth and the sun as the Milky Way looks on.

Night has fallen for the star-tracking European Space Agency (ESA) spacecraft, Gaia. The mission, which has been mapping the Milky Way for the last 12 years, shut down science operations on Wednesday (Jan. 15).

The close of the mission's data-collecting phase was necessitated by Gaia running low on cold gas propellant it uses to spin. The top-hat-shaped craft has been using around 12 grams of this propellent a day since it launched from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana atop a Soyuz-Fregat rocket on Dec. 19, 2013.

However, even though Gaia may be closing its eyes to the cosmos, this is far from the end of the spacecraft's influence on space science.

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