EPIC pn-imaging camera arrived in Dornier
30 November 1998
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 fixa small problem with the pressure gauge and then it is ready for launch",said XMM project manager, Robert Laine.Dornier can now complete integration of the Focal Plane Assembly (FPA), ready to move it to ESTEC in early February for final testing
The EPIC pn camera
The EPIC pn camera is one of the three X-ray imaging instrument of XMM developed by the European Photon Imaging Camera (EPIC) consortium. The EPIC consortium comprises scientific groups from the United Kingdom, Italy, France and Germany led by the Principal Investigator Martin Turner (Leicester, UK)
EPIC consists of three CCD (Charge-Coupled Device) cameras, one at the focal plane of each mirror assembly. Two are the so-called MOS (Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor) cameras, and the third, which uses new technology X-ray CCDs, known as pn. The EPIC pn camera, built by the Max-Planck-Institut f|r extraterrestrische Physik (Garching) and Astromisches Institut Tubingen, provides most of the high-energy X-ray response of XMM.
