Just found this, very interesting. A number of simulations have been run by the COSMA super computer at Durham Uni, the results will aid in the design of the satellite for the future 'SPACE' mission, which aims to understand dark energy. Please see the full article below...

 

From the article...

Cosmologists have run a series of huge computer simulations of the Universe that could ultimately help solve the mystery of dark energy.

 

The findings, published today (Friday, January 11) in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, will also provide vital input into the design of a proposed satellite mission called SPACE – the SPectroscopic All-sky Cosmic Explorer - that could unveil the nature of dark energy.

 

The simulations, which took 11 days to run on Durham’s unique Cosmology Machine (COSMA) computer, looked at tiny ripples in the distribution of matter in the Universe made by sound waves a few hundred thousand years after the Big Bang.

 

The tiny ripples are called BAO's or Baryonic Acoustic Oscillations, which similar to the background radiation (CMB) are the sound equivalent...

 

By changing the nature of dark energy in the simulations, the researchers discovered that the ripples appeared to change in length and could act as a “standard ruler” in the measurement of dark energy.

emphasis mine

 

http://www.dur.ac.uk/news/newsitem/?itemno=6038

 

Below is an overview of the 'SPACE' mission, from arxiv...

 

http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/0710/0710.3970v1.pdf

Finally there seems to be chance for a breakthrough!

I hope there come something good out of it because I never really liked the adjective "dark"!

You may be interested in the three projects put forward for the JDEM, 'Joint Dark Energy Mission' the dark energy projects over the pond part of NASA's Beyond Einstein programme, which includes five missions, the study of dark energy being one of them.

 

These include SNAP 'SuperNova/Acceleration Probe', DESTINY 'Dark Energy Space Telescope' and ADEPT 'Advanced Dark Energy Physics Telescope.'

 

SNAP...

http://snap.lbl.gov/

 

Article on DESTINY...

http://www.universetoday.com/2006/08/04/dark-energy-mission-chosen/

 

and ADEPT

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/NASA_Selects_ADEPT_Space_Mission_To_Probe_Dark_Energy_999.html

thanks for the links Snail, I'll go through them when I have much more leisure time!

 

Thnx again,

Shade