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1. The Historical Context of the GAIA Mission
The origin and development of every momentous scientific undertaking is
profoundly influenced by the historical context in which it arises.
Following this general rule, the GAIA mission has its roots in the recent
dramatic development of space astronomy, and specifically in the renaissance
experienced by astrometry thanks to space techniques.
Although this study deals with the possibility of performing galaxy
observations with the GAIA satellite, an outstanding astrometric accuracy
is an essential prerequisite to implement the galaxy observation strategy
that is here proposed.
More in general, most characteristics of the present mission design are best
understood when considering that GAIA is mainly an astrometric satellite.
It will therefore be useful to briefly review the advantages offered by space
astronomy over ground-based astronomy as well as to describe in some detail
the characteristics and results of Hipparcos, the ESA astrometric satellite
which can be regarded as GAIA ``ancestor'' and to which GAIA design owes
much1.1.
Subsections
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Mattia Vaccari
2000-12-05