Herschel Science is the second of a set of three educational films (see http://www.lightcurvefilms.com/beyond-the-red/) about the new European Space Agency’s science missions Herschel and Planck, recently launched. In Herschel Science astrophysicists Ewine van Dishoeck (Leiden Observatory, the Netherlands) and Floris van der Tak (Netherlands Space Research Institute) explain one of the research projects to be performed with the ESA Herschel mission: the understanding of the cycle of water in the Universe. The film features organ music by William Herschel. Both scientists have a creative session on the beach making a sand sculpture of the spacecraft guided by sculptor Martijn Rijerse.

Links: Herschel Mission: http://sci.esa.int/herschel Planck Mission: http://sci.esa.int/planck Prof. Ewine van Dishoeck: http://strw.leidenuniv.nl/~ewine/ Dr. Floris van der Tak: http://sron.rug.nl/~vdtak/ Martijn Rijerse: http://rijerse.eu

Production: The educational DVD with all three films was produced by Lightcurve Films for the European Space Agency (ESA) and the German 'Wissenschaft in der Schule'. It was included in a special educational issue of the Sterne und Weltraum magazine about the Herschel and Planck missions. © ESA 2008; publication authorised by ESA.