ESA Science & Technology - News Archive

The Second International X-ray Observatory (IXO) Science Meeting, held at the Cité Universitaire in Paris, and attended by almost 200 participants, provided a timely opportunity to review the progress that has been made on IXO in a number of areas.

On 28 April ESA issued a "Call for Declarations of Interest in Science Instrumentation" for the L-class Cosmic Vision mission study IXO. Prospective Instrument Study Teams are invited to submit proposals outlining the composition of nationally funded consortia to carry out assessment level studies.

At a bilateral ESA-NASA meeting held on 15-16 July, 2008, David Southwood, the ESA Director for the Science and Robotic Exploration Program, and Ed Weiler, the NASA Associate Administrator of the Science Mission Directorate, endorsed a plan to establish an International X-ray Observatory (IXO) study.