ESA assessment study activities on the International X-ray Observatory

Rando, N.; Martin, D.; Lumb, D.; Verhoeve, P.; Oosterbroek, T.; Puig, L.; Saavedra, Genaro; Linder, M.; Scolamiero, L.; Voirin, Thomas; Damasio, C.; Wilde, D.; Landgraf, Markus; Gondoin, P.; Bavdaz, Marcos

doi:10.1117/12.856825

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…The Advanced Telescope for High Energy Astrophysics (ATHENA) is the mission concept resulting from the IXO reformulation exercise 5,6 . ATHENA is an observatory mission that will address the leading astrophysical questions in the "hot universe" through its breakthrough capabilities in X-ray spectroscopy, imaging and timing.…”

Section: Science Requirementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Cosmic Vision mission studies: status and overview of the M3 astrophysics candidates and L-class reformulation

et al. 2011

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Within the framework of the European Space Agency's Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 program, a third call for mission proposals (M3) was released to identify candidate missions for a launch slot in 2020-2022 that are to be studied in detail. The progress on the M3 astrophysics mission candidate studies is presented in this paper. The third medium-sized launch opportunity of the Cosmic Vision program limits the candidates to VEGA or Soyuz-compatible spacecraft to be launched from Kourou with a cost ceiling of 470 M€. Following the first down-selection by the advisory structure, the selected proposals are undergoing internal studies in the Concurrent Design Facility. The mission concepts of the proposals are developed, the requirements refined, and the feasibility of the missions is assessed. The paper provides a summary of the status of these studies and describes the different spacecraft designs. A thorough description of the model payloads is given with special emphasis on their characteristics, requirements, design, and technical implementation. We also shed light on the ongoing reformulation of the IXO mission into ATHENA and present first results.

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Section: Science Requirementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Cosmic Vision mission studies: status and overview of the M3 astrophysics candidates and L-class reformulation

et al. 2011

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“…A technology programme is being implemented, addressing further improvement of the angular resolution to reach the requirement of IXO, the predevelopment of mass production equipment necessary for large telescope implementations and, finally, the environmental qualification of SPO modules [35,[53][54][55][56].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

X-Ray Pore Optics Technologies and Their Application in Space Telescopes

Bavdaz

Collon

Beijersbergen

et al. 2010

X-Ray Optics and Instrumentation

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Silicon Pore Optics (SPO) is a new X-ray optics technology under development in Europe, forming the ESA baseline technology for the International X-ray Observatory candidate mission studied jointly by ESA, NASA, and JAXA. With its matrix-like structure, made of monocrystalline-bonded Silicon mirrors, it can achieve the required angular resolution and low mass density required for future large X-ray observatories. Glass-based Micro Pore Optics (MPO) achieve modest angular resolution compared to SPO, but are even lighter and have achieved sufficient maturity level to be accepted as the X-ray optic technology for instruments on board the Bepi-Colombo mission, due to visit the planet Mercury. Opportunities for technology transfer to ground-based applications include material science, security and scanning equipment, and medical diagnostics. Pore X-ray optics combine high performance with modularity and economic industrial production processes, ensuring cost effective implementation.

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“…ATHENA, was conceived as an ESA led project, resulting from the reformulation of the previous IXO (International Xray Observatory) studies [1,2]. The reformulation work aimed at defining a mission concept compatible with an ESA led scenario, targeting a launch by 2022.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reference payload of the ESA L1 mission candidate ATHENA

et al. 2012

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The Advanced Telescope for High ENergy Astrophysics (ATHENA) is one of the three candidates that competed for the first large-class mission (L1) in ESA's Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 programme, with a launch planned by 2022 and is the result of the IXO reformulation activities. ATHENA is an ESA-led project and is conceived as the next generation X-ray observatory. It is meant to address fundamental questions about accretion around black-holes, reveal the physics underpinning cosmic feedback, trace the large scale structure of baryons in galaxy clusters and the cosmic as well as a large number of astrophysics and fundamental physics phenomena. The observatory consists of two identical mirrors each illuminating a fixed focal plane instrument, providing collectively 1 m 2 effective area at 1 keV. The reference payload consists of a medium resolution wide field imager (WFI) and a high resolution X-ray micro-calorimeter spectrometer (XMS). The WFI is based on a monolithic Si DepFET array providing imaging over a 24 × 24 arcmin 2 field of view and a good PSF oversampling. The sensor will measure X-rays in the range 0.1-15 keV and provides near Fano limited energy resolution (150eV at 6keV). The XMS is based on a micro-calorimeter array operating at its transition temperature of ~100mK and provides <3eV resolution. The detector array consists of 32 × 32 pixels covering a 2.3 × 2.3 arcmin 2 field of view, co-aligned with the WFI. This paper summarizes the results of the reformulation exercise and provides details on the payload complement and its accommodation on the spacecraft. Following the ESA Science Programme Committee decision on the L1 mission in May 2012, ATHENA was not selected to enter Definition Phase.

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ESA assessment study activities on the International X-ray Observatory

Cited by 6 publications

References 0 publications

The Cosmic Vision mission studies: status and overview of the M3 astrophysics candidates and L-class reformulation

The Cosmic Vision mission studies: status and overview of the M3 astrophysics candidates and L-class reformulation

X-Ray Pore Optics Technologies and Their Application in Space Telescopes

Reference payload of the ESA L1 mission candidate ATHENA

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