Title: "The Planck Mission and the Cosmic Microwave Background" Speaker: Gary Prezeau, Jet Propulsion Laboatory Abstract: The Planck mission will be the next space mission to measure the cosmic microwave background following in the footsteps of COBE and WMAP. In this talk, the Planck mission instruments will be described as well as the level of accuracy at which the power spectra can be measured. A description of the scientific goals of the mission will also be given.