NTHU Joins European Space Mission to Help Unlock the Mysteries of Galaxy Evolution by 2030

HSINCHU, Taiwan, July 24, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Andrew Cooper, Associate Professor at National Tsing Hua University's Institute of Astronomy, has joined the European Space Agency's newly approved ARRAKIHS mission, which will launch a space telescope in 2030 to explore the faint outermost regions of galaxies that have long remained beyond the reach of observation. As Co-Chair of the Galaxy Science Working Group, Cooper leads an NTHU research team in developing theoretical models using high-performance computing to help the international collaboration interpret the mission's future observations and, for the first time, reconstruct the unique formation history of individual galaxies.

"What appears to be empty space around galaxies actually contains the record of their entire growth history," said Cooper. He explains that the outskirts of galaxies are like a diary spanning billions of years, preserving the subtle traces left behind by mergers and interactions with smaller galaxies. These extremely faint structures—including stellar halos and stellar streams—have long remained hidden beneath background light, making comprehensive studies nearly impossible. The challenge of uncovering these elusive features inspired the ARRAKIHS mission.

Cooper explained that ESA officially approved the Spanish-led ARRAKIHS mission in June. Named after the fictional desert planet Arrakis from Frank Herbert's science fiction classic Dune, the mission has now completed its concept design and entered the critical manufacturing phase. It is scheduled to launch in 2030, when a small satellite carrying a space telescope will be placed into low Earth orbit to conduct a three-year survey of approximately 80 nearby galaxies.

The international collaboration brings together more than 250 scientists and engineers from ESA member states—including Spain, Austria, Belgium, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, and Switzerland—as well as partner institutions in Taiwan, the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Thailand, making it a large, multinational space mission.

According to Cooper, one of the mission's greatest technical challenges is suppressing background light to detect extremely faint galactic structures. To accomplish this, ARRAKIHS will employ a highly sensitive, wide-field dual-telescope system capable of surveying large regions of the sky. By observing the faint outskirts of galaxies, scientists hope to reconstruct the unique formation history of each galaxy. "We can begin to understand the story of every galaxy and appreciate each one as a unique individual," Cooper said.

At NTHU, Cooper and doctoral student Chung-Wen Wang are developing theoretical models and numerical simulations that will complement the mission's future observations. Using the supercomputing facilities at the university's Center for Informatics and Computation in Astronomy (CICA) and theoretical models refined over many years, the team simulates how smaller galaxies are gradually disrupted and absorbed by larger galaxies, producing the faint stellar halos observed today.

Wang describes the work as "a rehearsal for the observations that will begin in 2030." By developing a semi-analytic model, the team can rapidly reconstruct faint galactic structures without tracking the motion of every individual particle, providing an efficient way to interpret future observations.

To further advance related research, Cooper recently received a four-year grant from the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) Outstanding Young Scholars Program, which will continue through 2030 in parallel with the ARRAKIHS mission timeline. The team has also secured joint funding from Taiwan's NSTC and Spain's Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) under a bilateral researcher exchange program. This October, Cooper and Wang will travel to Spain for collaborative research, while Spanish researchers are scheduled to visit NTHU next year, further strengthening scientific cooperation between Taiwan and Europe in the field of galaxy formation research.

In addition, Professor Rafael Guzmán of the Institute of Physics of Cantabria (IFCA) in Spain, Principal Investigator of the ARRAKIHS mission, is expected to visit NTHU this September to share the latest mission developments and exchange ideas with the university's research community.

NTHU-trained researchers are also playing active roles in the international astronomy community. Li-Wen Liao, a former doctoral student at NTHU's Institute of Astronomy, is now a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC) in Spain and a member of the ARRAKIHS team. She is responsible for analyzing simulated observational data in preparation for the mission's scientific operations after launch.

Liao credits her experiences at NTHU with preparing her to contribute immediately to the international collaboration. "The comprehensive academic training and strong foundation in data analysis I received at NTHU gave me a significant advantage," she said. "The supercomputing system and simulation platform developed by Professor Cooper's group allowed me to contribute to the ARRAKIHS mission without having to start from scratch." Liao also previously collaborated with Cooper's team on the international Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) project, which is creating the largest three-dimensional map of the universe.

NTHU Associate Professor Andrew Cooper (right) and doctoral student Chung-Wen Wang (left) of the Institute of Astronomy are participating in the European Space Agency’s ARRAKIHS galaxy archaeology mission. (Photo: National Tsing Hua University)

Contact:

Yi-Yeh Chen

NTHU

(886)3-5162374

yiyeh@mx.nthu.edu.tw

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c041154b-09c4-4f28-b134-86595eb6644d

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