// ORBITAL LOGISTICS AND PROPULSION TERM
Dark Energy
Dark energy is a mysterious form of energy thought to be responsible for the accelerating expansion of the universe. It acts as a repulsive force, pushing galaxies apart.
TECHNICAL DEFINITION
A hypothetical form of energy permeating all of space, proposed to explain the observed accelerating expansion of the universe, counteracting gravity on cosmic scales and comprising approximately 68% of the universe's energy density.
BACKGROUND
Outer space, or simply space, is the expanse that exists beyond Earth's atmosphere and between celestial bodies. It contains ultra-low levels of particle densities, constituting a near-perfect vacuum of predominantly hydrogen and helium plasma, permeated by electromagnetic radiation, cosmic rays, neutrinos, magnetic fields and dust. The baseline temperature of outer space, as set by the background radiation from the Big Bang, is 2.7 kelvins.
READ MORE ON WIKIPEDIASYNONYMS & ALIASES
- Cosmic acceleration energy
- Vacuum energy
- Quintessence
- Repulsive gravity
USAGE NOTE
Understanding dark energy is one of the biggest challenges in modern physics and cosmology.
DEVELOPERS
Organizations developing technology related to Dark Energy.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration develops and operates space telescopes and missions, such as the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (formerly WFIRST), designed to investigate dark energy through various observational techniques.
ESA leads major space missions like Euclid, a space telescope specifically designed to map the large-scale structure of the universe to shed light on the nature of dark energy and dark matter.
Fermilab is deeply involved in large-scale ground-based cosmology experiments, contributing to projects like the Dark Energy Survey (DES) and the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), developing specialized detectors and analysis techniques.
LBNL is a leading institution behind the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), which uses a robotic array to gather light from millions of galaxies to create a 3D map of the universe, providing data to study dark energy.
Caltech hosts significant astrophysics research groups that contribute to the development of instrumentation, scientific interpretation, and theoretical models for major dark energy experiments and space missions.
NOIRLab operates several large ground-based telescopes (e.g., Kitt Peak, Cerro Tololo) that host instruments crucial for dark energy research, including participation in projects like DESI.
SLAC contributes to the development of instrumentation and advanced data analysis for cosmological surveys, including the Dark Energy Survey (DES) and the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), which are critical for understanding dark energy.