Radio astronomy and millimeter astronomy
The following are two examples of observation missions with Swiss participation in the areas of radio and millimetre astronomy.
Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO)
The SKAO will be the largest radio telescope in the world and will consist of antennas in Australia and South Africa. Construction began in 2021. The name comes from the fact that the antennas will cover a total surface area of one square kilometre. Among other things, researchers want to use the SKAO to obtain information on how the universe came into being, to test the general theory of relativity and to find out how life arose on Earth and whether there are signs of "extraterrestrial intelligence" (life beyond Earth) somewhere in the universe.
The 197 telescopes in South Africa are classic parabolic antennas and detect beams in the range from 2 centimetres to 0.8 metres wavelength or a frequency of 350MHz - 15.4 GHz. They are called SKA-Mid (i.e. in the medium frequency range).
The 131,072 telescopes in Australia look a bit like trees and operate in the range of 0.8 to 6 metres wavelength or a frequency of 50MHz - 350 MHz. They are called SKA-Low (i.e. in the low frequency range).
The SKAO is itself an intergovernmental organisation which, like the ESO, is dedicated to astronomical research. Participants in the SKAO are Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Japan, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK, all of whom are behind the project.
Planck telescope
The Planck telescope, an ESA space mission, was in operation in orbit around the Earth between 2009 and 2013. Its instruments were able to detect radiation in the 30 GHz to 859 GHz range. This corresponds to wavelengths between 10 millimetres and 0.35 millimetres.
Planck recorded cosmic background radiation at different wavelengths. This has enabled researchers to better understand the age, geometry and composition of the universe. For example, they have recalculated the proportions of "normal" matter, dark matter and dark energy in the universe.