Fact Sheet
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| | | XMM-Newton spacecraft
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ESA's X-ray space observatory is unique. It is the biggest scientific satellite ever built in Europe, its telescope mirrors were amongst the most powerful ever developed in the world, and with its sensitive cameras it will see much more than any previous X-ray satellite.
Mission Objectives
Since Earth's atmosphere blocks out all X-rays, only a telescope in space can detect and study celestial X-ray sources. The XMM-Newton mission will help scientists solve a number of cosmic mysteries, ranging from the enigmatic black holes to the origins of the Universe itself. Observing time on XMM-Newton is being made available to the scientific community, applying for observational periods on a competitive basis. Mission Name
The XMM-Newton mission derives its name from its X-ray Multi-Mirror design and honours Sir Isaac Newton, but was formally called High Throughput X-ray Spectroscopy Mission because of its great capacity to detect X-rays. Announcing the new name on 9 February 2000, ESA's former Director of Science Prof. Roger Bonnet explained: "We have chosen this name because Sir Isaac Newton was the man who invented spectroscopy and XMM is a spectroscopy mission. The name of Newton is associated with the falling apple, which is the symbol of gravity and with XMM I hope that we will find a large number of black hole candidates which are of course associated with the theory of gravity. There was no better choice than XMM-Newton for the name of this mission". SpacecraftXMM-Newton is a three-axis stabilised spacecraft with a pointing accuracy of one arcsec. Launch mass is 3.8 tonnes. The satellite is made up of: a service module bearing the X-ray Mirror Modules, propulsion and electrical systems, a long telescope tube and the focal plane assembly carrying the science instruments The total length of XMM-Newton is 10 metres, and when its solar arrays are deployed, the satellite has a 16 metres span. The Prime contractor Dornier Satellitensysteme (Friedrichshafen, Germany- part of DaimlerChrysler Aerospace) has led an industrial consortium involving 46 companies from 14 European countries and one in the United States. Media Lario, Como, Italy, developed the X-ray Mirror Modules. Although the nominal mission is for two years, XMM-Newton has been designed and built to operate for ten years. InstrumentsThere are three main scientific instruments on board XMM-Newton:
| The three European Photon Imaging Cameras (EPIC) produced by a consortium made up of ten Institutes in four nations: the UK, Italy, France and Germany. EPIC Principal Investigator is Prof. Martin Turner of the X-ray Astronomy Group at Leicester University, UK. One of the cameras uses a new type of CCD (PN) developed by the Max Planck Institute of extraterrestrial Physics in Garching, Germany The two Reflection Grating Spectrometers (RGS). The Principal Investigator is Jelle Kaastra of the High-Energy Astronomy division SRON, Utrecht Netherlands with co-Investigator Steven Kahn from Columbia University, NY USA The Optical Monitor (OM), co-aligned with the main X-ray telescope, will give the XMM-Newton mission a multi-wavelength capacity. The Mullard Space Science Laboratory (MSSL) UK has supplied this 30 cm aperture Richtey-Chretien telescope (with a 170 - 600 nanometre spectral range). OM Principal Investigator is Prof. Keith Mason | In addition, XMM-Newton is equipped with a particle detector, the EPIC Radiation Monitor System (ERMS), developed by the Centre d'Etude Spatiale des Rayonnements (CESR) in Toulouse, France. Its role will be to measure the radiation levels in the Earth's radiation belts and from solar flares, radiation that can perturb the sensitive CCD detectors of the main science instruments. Imaging
| Spacecraft X-ray optics | Cover a spectral range of 1 - 120 Å (12 keV - 0.1 keV) | | Telescope | Consists of three barrel-shaped Mirror Modules, each containing 58 "Wolter-type I" wafer-thin concentric mirrors, 0.3 metres to 0.7 metres in diameter and 0.6 metres in length | | Total collecting area | Is 4300 cm2 at 1.5 keV, 1800 cm2 at 8 keV | | Telescope | Focal length is 7.5 m Resolution is 5 arcsec (full width half-maximum), 14 arcsec (half energy width) at all wavelengths | | Each X-ray Mirror Module | Weight 500 kg | OrbitAfter launch by Ariane-5, the XMM-Newton spacecraft was placed into a 48-hour elliptical orbit around the Earth. Inclined at 40° with a Southern apogee at 114 000 km, the perigee altitude is 7000 km.
Operations Centre
The XMM-Newton spacecraft, operational lifetime two to ten years, is controlled by the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC, Darmstadt Germany) using ground stations at Perth (Australia), Kourou (French Guiana) and Sanitago (Chile). The XMM-Newton Science Operations Centre situated at VILSPA in Villafranca, Spain, manages observation requests and receives XMM-Newton data. The XMM-Newton Survey Science Centre (SSC), at Leicester University UK, processes, archive and correlates all XMM-Newton observations with existing sky data held elsewhere in the world.
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Last Update: 07 Oct 2009
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