On the eve of launching the world’s largest telescope into space, the European Space Agency’s Director of Science & Robotic Exploration gives a wide-ranging lecture discussing the Herschel and Planck missions, ESA policy and programmes, ESAs astronomical work and his experience as an ESA director.

The core of this lecture was an exploration of the Herschel and Planck missions. Herschel, named after Sir William Herschel who from his home in Slough discovered light beyond the visible spectrum and mapped the northern skies, was designed to detect infrared to submillimetre wavelengths from cool objects across the Universe. The Herschel Space Observatory had the largest telescope ever flown in space with a main mirror 3.5 m across, more than four times larger than any previous infrared space telescope and almost one and a half times larger than that of the Hubble Space Telescope.

Planck, named after German physicist Max Planck, was Europe's first mission to study the Cosmic Microwave Background, the relic radiation from the Big Bang.

Dr David Southwood addressed a meeting organised by the Royal Aeronautical Society’s Space Group on 30 April 2009. The lecture was introduced by Pat Norris FRAeS and the podcast was edited by Eur Ing Mike Stanberry FRAeS.