ARRAKIHS

Logo of the mission

ARRAKIHS is a planned astronomical satellite mission by European Space Agency (ESA). It will study dark matter haloes of galaxies. It was selected in 2022, and is expected to be launched in the early 2030's. ARRAKIHS will observe 75 galaxies for 150 hours each. It is the second F-class ("fast") mission ^{[1] [2] [3] [4]} and the first ESA Science Programme mission led from Spain. ^[5] The small satellite of around 300 kg ^[6] will be placed in a Sun-Synchronous Low Earth Orbit at an altitude of approximately 800 km. ^[7]

Name

The mission is named after a planet Arrakis from science fiction novel Dune . ^[8] The name is a backronym of "Analysis of Resolved Remnants of Accreted galaxies as a Key Instrument for Halo Surveys". ^[7]

Instruments

The spacecraft will use two binocular visible and near-infrared cameras developed by Spanish company Satlantis. ^{[9] [10]} The cameras are based on the iSIM-170 model ^[11] that has been tested in space on the ISS. ^{[12] [13]}

Timeline

• In November 2022, ESA selected ARRAKIHS as its second F-class mission. ^{[14] [15]}
• In November 2023, The ARRAKIHS consortium has successfully passed the mission definition review of the project. ^[16]
• In March 2024, ESA published a call for the definition, development, and operation of the mission. ^[6]
• In January 2025, Spanish company Added Value Solutions (AVS) has won a contract for the initial phases of the project. The contract includes preliminary spacecraft design and work to derisk key technologies. ^[17]

See also

• List of European Space Agency programmes and missions

References

1. "Selection of F2 - Call for missions 2021 - Cosmos". www.cosmos.esa.int. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
2. Rao, Rahul (15 November 2023). "Dark matter-hunting satellite ARRAKIHS to launch in 2030. Here's how it will work". Space.com. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
3. "ARRAKIHS". www.ice.csic.es. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
4. "One step closer to unveiling dark matter with ARRAKIHS". Epfl. 11 October 2023. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
5. "Spain to lead the first mission of the European Space Agency"s Science Programme". www.lamoncloa.gob.es. Retrieved 2025-03-18.
6. Parsonson, Andrew (2024-03-11). "ESA Publishes Call for ARRAKIHS Dark Matter Probe". European Spaceflight. Retrieved 2025-03-18.
7. "Mission". ARRAKIHS Mission. Retrieved 2025-03-18.
8. Lausanne, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de. "One step closer to unveiling dark matter with ARRAKIHS". phys.org. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
9. Loza, Gonzalo (2024-07-16). "A camera in space to photograph the unphotographable". EL PAÍS English. Retrieved 2025-03-18.
10. "Instrument". ARRAKIHS Mission. Retrieved 2025-03-18.
11. "One of Arrakihs' pairs of binoculars". www.esa.int. Retrieved 2025-03-18.
12. "The Earth Observation camera developed by SATLANTIS, company invested by everis, already installed in the International Space Station (ISS) | NTT DATA". benelux.nttdata.com. Retrieved 2025-03-18.
13. [e-mail] (2020-06-04). "Aboard the International Space Station, Super-Resolution Camera to Capture Images of Earth". News. Retrieved 2025-03-18.
14. published, Rahul Rao (2023-11-15). "Dark matter-hunting satellite ARRAKIHS to launch in 2030. Here's how it will work". Space.com. Retrieved 2025-03-18.
15. "Selection of F2 - Call for missions 2021 - Cosmos". Call for missions 2021. Retrieved 2025-03-18.
16. Lausanne, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de. "One step closer to unveiling dark matter with ARRAKIHS". phys.org. Retrieved 2025-03-18.
17. Foust, Jeff (2025-01-31). "AVS wins study contract for ESA astrophysics mission". SpaceNews. Retrieved 2025-03-18.