ESA's Gaia Spacecraft Retires After Mapping Billions of Stars | JQJO

The European Space Agency (ESA) has decommissioned its Gaia spacecraft after more than 11 years of operation. Running out of propellant, Gaia, located at the L2 Lagrange point, was maneuvered to a safe retirement orbit to avoid space debris. This highly successful mission mapped 1.46 billion celestial objects, providing invaluable data for astronomical research, including detailed information on star distances, brightness, and movement. While the spacecraft is retired, analysis of its data will continue for years, yielding further discoveries.