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| Duke of Edinburgh given scale model of XMM on visit to Leicester Space Research Centre |
| On the occasion of an official visit to Leicestershire on 26 February, His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh visited the Space Research Centre at Leicester University where much of the development work of the XMM EPIC cameras has taken place. |
| Date: 26 Feb 1999 |
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| XMM upper module in ESTEC's Large Space Simulator |
| The XMM upper module, bearing the focal plane assembly with imaging cameras and spectrometer detectors, was carefully placed in the Large Space Simulator at ESTEC, where it will undergo thermal vacuum tests.
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| Date: 23 Feb 1999 |
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| XMM upper module arrives at ESTEC despite the snow |
| XMM passed an important milestone on 9 February, with the arrival at ESTEC of the upper half of the spacecraft, from Dornier, Friedrichshafen, Germany.
The journey from southern Germany to the Netherlands, with the Black Forest pass deep in snow, was quite an adventure in itself for the two extra-wide trucks carrying the upper module and the delicate high-tech imaging camera built by European scientists. |
| Date: 10 Feb 1999 |
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| Tailor-made for XMM |
| Elizabeth Zehetbauer started working in
the space sector six years ago. At the Austrian Aerospace facility at
Berndorf in Lower Austria, she belongs to the department that produces
the thermal insulation for spacecraft. |
| Date: 25 Jan 1999 |
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| XMM lower module testing completed |
| The XMM lower module was taken out of the Large Space Simulator (LSS) at ESTEC yesterday, Thursday 21 January, after successful completion of performance tests under vacuum at high and low temperatures. |
| Date: 22 Jan 1999 |
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| World astronomers invited to contribute to XMM |
| ESA has issued the first 'Announcement of Opportunity' for observations to be performed with the
X-ray Multi-mirror satellite (XMM), for the period May 2000 to May 2002. Proposers from all over the world are welcome to make proposals. The closing date is 17 April 1999. |
| Date: 19 Jan 1999 |
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| EPIC PN camera repaired |
| The EPIC PN camera has been repaired and re-installed on the Focal Plana assembly at Dornier.
Thermal vacuum testing on the lower half of the XMM spacecraft continues
in the test facilities at ESTEC, Noordwijk. |
| Date: 11 Jan 1999 |
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| XMM lower module under thermal vacuum testing |
| The thermal vacuum test on the lower half of the XMM spacecraft started early in the morning of Tuesday 5 January and continues throughout the next ten days.
|
| Date: 06 Jan 1999 |
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| The XMM mirror modules have arrived in Noordwijk |
| After a four-hour road journey from Lihge in Belgium, the three flight model mirror modules, the most powerful X-ray optics in the world, have arrived today at ESTEC, ESA's technical centre in Noordwijk, The Netherlands. It was the last road journey for the 'eyes' of ESA's X-ray space observatory.
Early next year, the three mirror modules will be assembled on the spacecraft, ready for launch in January 2000. |
| Date: 15 Dec 1998 |
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| XMM science teams prepare to use the X-ray space observatory - SWT 3/4 Dec |
| Whilst the satellite project team has been organising the arrival of
the three flight model mirror modules - due to arrive at ESTEC in The Netherlands on 15 December from the CSL testing facility in Belgium - the XMM science teams continue to
prepare for the use of the European X-ray space observatory once it is
in orbit. |
| Date: 08 Dec 1998 |
|
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| EPIC pn-imaging camera arrived in Dornier |
| The last flight-model pn-imaging camera arrived in Dornier yesterday, 30 November.
"Scientifically, this is an excellent X-ray camera, we just have to fix
a small problem with the pressure gauge and then it is ready for launch",
said XMM project manager, Robert Laine. |
| Date: 01 Dec 1998 |
|
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| XMM tests at CSL come to an end |
| After of two and a half years' work, the Centre Spatial de Lihge (CSL)
in Belgium is coming to the end of the calibration tests it has
been carrying out on the Mirror Modules of XMM, the European Space
Agency's X-ray space telescope. In mid-December, after some
thermal hardware integration activities, the three flight modules will
be leaving for ESTEC for integration there early next year onto the
satellite platform. |
| Date: 12 Nov 1998 |
|
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| XMM in ESTEC test centre |
| Pictures taken this morning show XMM's lower module being prepared by Dornier staff for a week of tests on the shaker in ESTEC's test facilities.
|
| Date: 10 Nov 1998 |
|
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| 2nd XMM imaging camera delivered |
| The second imaging camera (EPIC MOS 2) has been delivered to Dornier for integration in the focal plane. |
| Date: 14 Oct 1998 |
|
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| XMM lower module assembly arrives at ESTEC |
| The XMM lower module assembly, which consists of the Service Module and associated telescope tube, has arrived at ESTEC for the final sequence of environmental tests. |
| Date: 14 Oct 1998 |
|
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| Robustness of household battery saves XMM |
| The managers of XMM, the European Space Agency's X-ray space
observatory due to be launched in January 2000, are thanking their lucky
stars! The robustness of an alkaline household battery has saved them
from a serious setback.
|
| Date: 09 Oct 1998 |
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| Success of the first XMM Workshop |
| The First XMM Workshop 'Science with XMM', held at ESTEC from 30
September to 2 October,
was very well received and attracted over 200 non-ESA participants from
all over the world.
Presentations covered a wide range of topics where XMM will greatly
extend the limits
of current scientific knowledge. |
| Date: 06 Oct 1998 |
|
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| First XMM Workshop |
| The First XMM Workshop 'Science with XMM' was held at ESTEC, Noordwijk, The Netherlands, 30 Sept. to 2 October.
The Final Programme is available on the Conference web page. |
| Date: 29 Sep 1998 |
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| XMM launch date |
| Following a detailed status review of the XMM scientific instruments by our Director of the Scientific Programme, the launch date of 21 January 2000, 13:13 UTC has been selected. |
| Date: 24 Sep 1998 |
|
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| ESA Science web site launches virtual reality XMM |
| When a team believes in its project, then any game is good to get
it known ! And when the programme concerned is XMM, Europe's
largest-ever science satellite, then even the inter-active fun of
virtual reality can be put to good use ! |
| Date: 20 Aug 1998 |
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