ESA Science & Technology - The XEUS mission reference design

Publication date: 01 January 2004

Authors: M. Bavdaz, D. Lumb, T. Peacock

The Xeus mission is designed to explore the X-ray emission from objects in the Universe at high redshifts, and these science requirements necessitate a very large effective area. We describe a completely revised mission scenario that mitigates previous concerns about the deployable mass and use of the ISS. New mirror technology with lightweight optics enables a direct launch to a L2 operational orbit, and we describe the outline of the Mirror and Detector Spacecraft that are deployed in formation flying to achieve the 50m focal distance separation.