The Planck mission, launched on May 14, 2009, will measure the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) over a broad range of far-infrared wavelengths, and to an unprecedented accuracy. This will enable the extraction essentially all of the information which can be obtained from the CMB. Planck is expected to provide answers to many fundamental questions about the early history and evolution of our universe. Specifically, it is expected to give scientists the data needed to:

• set tight constraints on cosmological parameters
• study the ionization history of the Universe
• probe the dynamics of the inflationary era
• test fundamental physics beyond inflation