The universe isn't what it seems. Scientists have some pretty good theories though. Our cosmic home appears to be composed of three things. Normal matter, all the stuff we can see, dark matter and dark energy. European Space Agency scientists are scheduled to launch a new billion-dollar spacecraft this Saturday in French Guyana. It will map the dark universe and probe its expansion over the last 10 billion years.
Ian Sample speaks to the cosmologist Dr Andrew Pontzen about the European Space Agency’s Euclid mission, which hopes to uncover more about two of the universe’s most baffling components: dark energy and dark matter. Pontzen explains what the probe will be looking for and how its findings will contribute to our understanding of the structure and evolution of the cosmos. Help support our independent journalism at
theguardian.com/sciencepod