26/02/2025 (Agence Europe) – The European Space Agency’s (ESA) gamma-ray telescope, Integral, will complete its observations on 28 February, the ESA announced on Wednesday 26 February. Integral was launched on 17 October 2002 from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan as part of a mission to observe the cosmos. After completing more than 2,886 orbits and “for more than two decades, Integral has shown us time and again how important it is to observe the sky in the light of gamma rays”, explained Jan-Uwe Ness, ESA’s Integral project scientist. “Some of the bursts of light associated with extreme physical events in our Universe can only be fully understood if we capture the light rays that come from the very heart of these explosions: gamma rays”, he explained. (CG)