ESA Science & Technology - XEUS - Physics of the Hot Evolving Universe

Deadline for submission of abstracts has now passed.

Dear colleague,

First Announcement of: "XEUS - Physics of the Hot Evolving Universe" Workshop, 5-6 March 2008, ESTEC, Noordwijk, The Netherlands.

XEUS is the potential successor to XMM-Newton, ESA's current flagship X-ray observatory. The science drivers for XEUS include the evolution of large-scale structure, co-evolution of galaxies and their super-massive black holes, matter under extreme conditions and observatory science (please see the XEUS Cosmic Vision proposal which is available under http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/~xeus/index_1101.html for details). Following ESA's Cosmic Vision call for missions in the 2015-2025 timeframe, XEUS has been selected as a candidate Large mission for further study.

XEUS will be operated as an observatory with a lifetime of at least 5 years and a launch not before the end of 2018. It is envisaged to consist of two formation flying spacecraft in a halo orbit around the Earth-Sun L2 point. The spacecraft will be separated by the 35 metre focal length of the X-ray optics which provides for a mirror area of 5 m² at 1 keV and 2 m² at 7 keV with a HED spatial resolution of between 2 and 5 arcsec. The straw-man payload consists of an imaging cryogenic spectrometer with 2 eV FWHM resolution at 0.5 keV, a 0.1-15 keV wide field (7 arcmin) imager, a polarimeter, a high-time resolution detector with a high count rate capability and a hard X-ray imager.

A number of studies of key areas of the mission will be started later this year. These studies will naturally reconsider and consolidate the XEUS definition aiming at securing the launch date whilst preserving the attractive science goals of the mission. This process will include a critical review of the technology status, the implementation of appropriate technology developments, and the investigation of alternative approaches where relevant.

It is assumed that the current mission will be implemented in collaboration with partner agencies. In order for the wider community to have its say on the capabilities of this next generation X-ray observatory, as well as the science drivers and necessary technological developments, ESA is organizing a workshop to discuss recent developments in the field and the design of future instrumentation relevant to the mission. The workshop is part of the preparations for the start of these study activities and will help interested scientists to contribute to the mission definition, and interested partner agencies identify those areas where they would like to contribute.

The workshop will start at 10:00 on 5 March 2008 and finish by 6 March at 17:00 in the Newton meeting room at ESTEC. All parties interested in the science and technology related to XEUS are encouraged to participate. Please register by emailing the registration form - which is available under "Documentation" in the right-hand side of the page - to xeus2008rssd.esa.int. There is no registration fee. There will be no printed proceedings published, but a web site will be created for copies of presentations. The deadline for submission of abstracts is

15 February 2008

For help with accommodation in the Noordwijk area please contact ESTEC Hotel Desk directly on +31-71-565-5858, fax +31-71-565-5859, or email to estec.hotelesa.int. For help with logistics please contact cvillienrssd.esa.int or tel: +31-71-565-3595. For scientific or technical questions please contact the SOC chair (details at bottom).

SOC: M. Arnaud, X. Barcons, M. Bavdaz, D. Barret, F. Favata, P. Gondoin, P. de Korte, G. Hasinger, D. Lumb, D. Martin, P. Nandra, A. Parmar (chair), L. Piro, N. Rando, F. Safa, S. Sciortino, L. Strüder, J. Vink, and R. Willingale.