ESA Science & Technology - LOFT
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The Large Observatory for X-ray Timing (LOFT) is a candidate mission for the M3 launch opportunity in ESA's Cosmic Vision programme. LOFT is designed to study the behaviour of matter in close proximity to black holes and neutron stars. High-time-resolution X-ray observations will be used to investigate strong-field gravity, to measure black hole masses and spins, and to study the equation of state of ultra-dense matter.
News
News
ESA selects planet-hunting PLATO mission
19 February 2014A space-based observatory to search for planets orbiting alien stars has been selected today as ESA's third medium-class science mission. It is planned for launch by 2024.
Announcements
Announcements
Cosmic Vision M3 candidate missions presentation event
21 October 2013The five M3-candidate missions (EChO, LOFT, MarcoPolo-R, PLATO, STE-QUEST) were presented to the scientific community on 21 January 2014, in Paris, France. The presentations given at this event are available to download now.
Announcement of Opportunity for the provision of scientific payload including SGS elements for the M3 mission candidates
24 September 2012Proposals are solicited for the scientific payload, including Science Ground Segment (SGS) elements, of the M3 candidate missions EChO, LOFT, MarcoPolo-R, and STE-QUEST. The deadline for submission of proposals is 30 November 2012, 12:00 CET.
Latest Publications
Latest Publications
LOFT Assessment Study Report (Yellow Book)
16 December 2013Reference: ESA/SRE(2013)3. This is the Assessment Study Report (also known as the Yellow Book) for LOFT - a candidate mission for the M3 launch opportunity in Cosmic Vision.
LOFT Preliminary Requirements Review Technical and Programmatic Report
18 December 2013Reference: ESA-LOFT-RP-0006, Issue 1, Revision 3. LOFT, a Large Observatory for X-ray Timing, is one of five candidate missions for the M3 launch opportunity. A Preliminary Requirements Review (PRR) of all candidate missions has been performed to review their status in support of the M3 selection. This document reports the results of the...
LOFT Science Requirements Document
19 September 2012Reference: SRE-SA/LOFT/2011-001; Issue: 2, Revision 2. This document records the scientific requirements for the Large Observatory for X-ray Timing (LOFT). These are the reference requirements through which the Mission Requirements Document will be derived.
LOFT Mission Requirements Document
11 February 2013Reference: SRE-F/2012-076/RQ/MA; Issue: 3, Revision: 6. This document aims at providing a complete and comprehensive list of all high level mission requirements (including S/C and payload, launcher, ground segment and operations) necessary to achieve the science goals detailed in the LOFT Science Requirements Document (SRE-SA/LOFT/2011-001,...
LOFT Payload Definition Document
9 October 2012Reference: SRE-PA/2011.088/; Issue:2, Revision: 4. This Payload Definition Document describes the consolidated instrument designs of the Large Area Detector (LAD) and the Wide Field Monitor (WFM) proposed for LOFT. The current issue (2.0) describes the status of the instruments at the time of the Mid-Term Review (MTR) of the LOFT mission study...
LOFT CDF study - External Final Presentation
7 October 2011This is a summary of the study performed at ESA's Concurrent Design Facility (CDF) into the M-class mission Large Observatory for X-ray Timing (LOFT).
The Large Observatory for X-ray Timing (LOFT)
1 October 2012This description of LOFT was published in Experimental Astronomy, Volume 34, Issue 2, pp 415-444, 2012.