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The GAIA mission has been mentioned in a few threads. It's supposed to be launched in 2013.
Gaia overview - http://www.esa.int/export/esaSC/120377_index_0_m.html
http://www.esa.int/esapub/br/br163/br163.pdf
ESA Science and Technology: GAIA
http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/area/index.cfm?fareaid=26
Gaia Payload Module Integration Completed
http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=50764
Sept 17, 2012 - Gaia’s instruments installed and ready for testing
http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEMIJ6DY37H_index_0.html
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Operations/SEMK5HZTIVE_0.html
Tentative date: August 2013?
Gaia overview - http://www.esa.int/export/esaSC/120377_index_0_m.html
Mission
Gaia will conduct a census of a thousand million stars in our Galaxy, monitoring each of its target stars about 70 times over a five-year period. It will precisely chart their positions, distances, movements, and changes in brightness. It is expected to discover hundreds of thousands of new celestial objects, such as extra-solar planets and failed stars called brown dwarfs. Within our own Solar System, Gaia should also observe hundreds of thousands of asteroids.
Additional scientific benefits include the detection and characterisation of tens of thousands of extra-solar planetary systems, a comprehensive survey of objects ranging from huge numbers of minor bodies in our Solar System, through galaxies in the nearby Universe, to about 500 000 distant quasars. It will also provide stringent new tests of Albert Einstein’s general relativity theory.
http://www.esa.int/esapub/br/br163/br163.pdf
ESA Science and Technology: GAIA
http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/area/index.cfm?fareaid=26
Gaia Payload Module Integration Completed
http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=50764
ORBIT:
Lissajous-type orbit around L2
OBJECTIVES:
To create the largest and most precise three dimensional chart of our Galaxy by providing unprecedented positional and radial velocity measurements for about one billion stars in our Galaxy and throughout the Local Group.
Sept 17, 2012 - Gaia’s instruments installed and ready for testing
http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEMIJ6DY37H_index_0.html
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Operations/SEMK5HZTIVE_0.html
Tentative date: August 2013?