NASA Commentator: "Main engine start. and liftoff of the Delta II rocket with the MAP
spacecraft. exploring the past and future of our universe."
The Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe. or MAP. set a new standard for cosmology
since it launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Florida. On June 30. 2001.
riding aboard a Delta II rocket. MAP began its journey to map the universe's oldest light.
Scheduled to operate for only two years. the mission has instead collected information
about the universe for nine years. MAP gave definitive answers to questions about the
age of the universe and what it looks like with unprecedented precision.
Looking at the background radiation in space. the probe was able to determine the
universe is approximately 13.7 billion years old and that dark energy makes up about 72
percent of the universe. causing the expansion rate of the universe to speed up.
And while MAP's data stream has ended. the probe's impact is still being felt.
Since 2000. the three most highly cited papers in all of physics and astronomy
are MAP scientific papers.