PARIS, June 27 (UPI) -- The European Space Agency say preparations are complete for a billion-star survey spacecraft ready to depart for its launch site in French Guiana.
The main goal of the Gaia space telescope during a five-year mission is to create a highly accurate 3D map of our Milky Way Galaxy by repeatedly observing a billion stars to determine their precise positions in space and their motions through it, a release from the Paris headquarters of ESA said Thursday.