This mission was designed to image the anisotropies of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation Field over the whole sky, with unprecedented sensitivity and angular resolution. Planck Surveyor is a major source of information relevant to several cosmological and astrophysical issues, such as testing theories of the early universe and the origin of cosmic structure. CAUP participates in this mission by being involved in the activities of the Planck Working Group 5: Clusters and Secondary Anisotropies.

This is a space project for the study of stellar interiors using asteroseismology and detection of planets around stars. CAUP participated in the Preparation of this mission since 2002 (following a successful application to an AO by ESA). The participation is at the Co-I level with access to all data in the asteroseismology core programme (and some additional programmes). CAUP coordinates an international team on the development, optimization and documentation of evolution and seismic tools for asteroseismology: CoRoT/ESTA.

See also:
CoRoT@Portugal
CoRoT mission website

The goal of this ESA mission is to make the largest, most precise three-dimensional map of our Galaxy by surveying an unprecedented number of stars. CAUP is involved in the preparation of this mission together with other Portuguese teams (SIM, LOLS, GAUC, CAAUL). CAUP participates in the preparation of the pipeline for determining stellar parameters (under CU8).

See also:
GAIA mission website

CAUP has been involved in the development and commissioning of AMBER (for VLTI at ESO) and has supported the setup of a Portuguese consortium for the development of astronomical instrumentation for the VLTI. CAUP participates at the Co-I level in the VLTI Spectro-Imager (VSI), that has passed Phase A, chairs the science team and is in charge of the image reconstruction task. A strategic partnership with LOLS and SIM has been established for the building of VSI.

See also:
AMBER website

CAUP is involved in negotiations to reconstruct or build a radio antenna in Açores to integrate the European VLBI Network and create a center of Geodesy. This project is a collaboration between CAUP, the Universidade dos Açores, the Direcção Regional de Ciência e Tecnologia and Portugal Telecom.

See also:
European VLBI Network website