Herschel has only been made possible by the collective dedicated effort over many years by a very large number of individuals. This page acknowledges their contributions.

Herschel Scientific Support

This section acknowledges the contribution members of the scientific community have made since 1982 to define the Herschel scientific goals and to ensure that these can be met, see the project through ESA advisory committees, numerous design changes, and political tempests. By the time the Herschel Science Archive will reach its final legacy phase around 2017, members of this group will have accompanied this project for more than one generation, making this the most long-lived group that should be given credit for the scientific results Herschel produces.

ESA Project Team, ESA technical & administrative support, space industry, instrument hardware teams

This section concerns the satellite "as built" It acknowledges the contribution by members of the following teams to the success Herschel has proved to be:

• The Herschel part of the Herschel/Planck Project Team proper and its management,
• The technical & administrative support provided to the Herschel Project Team by other parts of ESA,
• Industry, which has delivered such a near-perfect spacecraft,
• The instrument teams who have designed, developed, built, tested & characterised the 3 near-perfect instruments.

Herschel Spacecraft Operations / European Space Operations Centre

This section concerns Herschel spacecraft operations, as performed by the experts at ESA's Space Operations Centre (ESOC). It acknowledges the contribution by members of the following teams to the success Herschel has proved to be:

• Flight Control Team,
• Flight Dynamics Team,
• Software specialists,
• Infrastructure (stations, networks, management, administration),
• Simulators.

Herschel Science Operations / European Space Astronomy Centre / Instrument Control Centres / NASA Herschel Science Center

This section concerns Herschel scientific operations and acknowledges the contribution by members of the following teams to the success Herschel has proved to be:

• The Herschel Science Centre, operating from the European Space Astronomy Centre at Villanueva de la Cañada Spain,
• The HIFI Instrument Control Centre, operating from premises of the Space Research Organisation of the Netherlands (SRON) in Groningen, Holland,
• The PACS Instrument Control Centre at the Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik (MPE) outside Munich, Germany,
• The SPIRE Instrument Control Centre at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratories (RAL) near Oxford, Great Britain,
• The NASA Herschel Science Center at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center (IPAC) in Pasadena, United States.
• The growing group of Herschel users who, while they are not directly associated with any of the operations centres, contribute to the growing suite of Herschel Data Processing software that is being made available to the astronomical community.