NEAR the beginning there was light. And the light travelled across the
expanding Universe for billions of years, carrying with it the secrets of how
the cosmos began. Now, a new satellite promises the best view yet of this
afterglow from the big bang.
NASA will launch the Microwave Anisotropy Probe (MAP) on 30 June. The
$145 million satellite will slingshot around the Moon to boost it to a
point 1.5 million kilometres away called L2. Far from Earthly interference, the
probe can get an uninterrupted view of the light lingering from a mere 400,000
years after the big…
