FIRST, Far Infra-Red and Submillimetre Telescope, is one of ESA's Cornerstone Missions. It will perform observations in the one of the least explored windows in the Universe. The key science goals of FIRST are to answer the big questions of how galaxies formed in the early universe, and how stars form, and have been forming, throughout the history of the universe.
PLANCK is a mission to study the cosmic microwave background radiation - the 'echo' of the Big Bang, a radiation that fills the whole Universe and was emitted when the Universe was very young. FIRST and Planck will be launched together by an Ariane-5 in 2007 - the two spacecraft separate soon after launch and operate entirely independently.
