[ExI] Three big space missions this week

[John K Clark]

We're coming up to the biggest week in space exploration that we've had in a
 long time:

On Monday the Shuttle will launch its long delayed Hubble repair mission; if
successful Hubble will have new capabilities far beyond what it ever had
before.

On Thursday the same rocket in French Guiana will launce both the Herschel
and Planck satellites to the L2 Lagrange point. The two satellites are quite
different but equally important.

Herschel will probe the largely unexplored far infrared part of the spectrum
with the largest mirror ever put into space.

Plank will study the cosmic microwave background radiation with far greater
precision than ever achieved before including measuring for the first time
its polarization. If we're lucky it might even find Gravitational Waves.

  John K Clark