XEUS: The x-ray evolving universe spectroscopy mission (original) (raw)
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Advances in Space Research, 2004
Europe is one of the major partners building the International Space Station (ISS) and European industry, together with ESA, is responsible for many station components including the Columbus Orbital Facility, the Automated Transport Vehicle, two connecting modules and the European Robotic Arm. Together with this impressive list of contributions there is a strong desire within the ESA Member States to benefit from this investment by utilizing the unique capabilities of the ISS to perform world-class science.
XEUS - The X-ray Evolving Universe Spectroscopy Mission
Storage and Retrieval for Image and Video Databases, 1999
XEUS is under study by ESA as part of the Horizon 2000+ program to utilize the International Space Station (ISS) for astronomical applications. XEUS will be a long-term X-ray observatory with an initial mirror area of 6m2 at 1 keV that will be grown to 30m2 following a visit to the ISS. The 1 keV spatial resolution is expected to
ESA Study of XEUS, A Potential Follow-on to XMM-Newton
In October 2005, based on a massive response by the Science Community to ESA's call for themes in space science, a large aperture X-ray Observatory (XRO) was identified as a candidate project for Europe within the frame of the 2015-2025 Cosmic Vision program [1]. Such a mission would represent the natural follow-on to XMM Newton, providing a large aperture X-ray telescope combined with high spectral and time resolution instruments, capable of investigating matter under extreme conditions and the evolution of the early universe. The paper summarises the results of the most recent ESA internal study activities, leading to an updated mission configuration, with a mirror and a detector spacecraft flying in formation around L2 and a consolidated scientific payload design. The paper also describes the ongoing technology development activities for the payload and for the spacecraft that will play a crucial role in case ESA would decide to develop such a mission.
XEUS: the physics of the hot evolving universe
Experimental Astronomy, 2009
This paper describes the next generation X-ray observatory XEUS which has been submitted to the European Space Agency in the framework of the Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 competition and has been selected for an assessment study. The paper summarizes the scientific goals and instrumental concepts of the proposed X-ray telescope with 5 m 2 effective area and angular resolution better than 5 arc sec.
Overview of ESA study activities on XEUS
Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2008: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray, 2008
The XEUS (X-ray Evolving Universe Spectroscopy) proposal has been recently selected by the science advisory structure of the European Space Agency as an L-class candidate mission. On this basis, XEUS will undergo an assessment study, in line with the Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 selection process. The mission would represent a follow-up to XMM-Newton, providing a next generation X-ray observatory at disposal of the astrophysics community. The paper provides an overview of the recent study activities performed by ESA, including a critical review of the main requirements and a discussion on the associated impact at system level. The model payload presently considered for XEUS is also presented, as well as the technology developments needs.
Overview of ESA study activities on XEUS
2008
The XEUS (X-ray Evolving Universe Spectroscopy) proposal has been recently selected by the science advisory structure of the European Space Agency as an L-class candidate mission. On this basis, XEUS will undergo an assessment study, in line with the Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 selection process. The mission would represent a follow-up to XMM-Newton, providing a next generation X-ray observatory at disposal of the astrophysics community. The paper provides an overview of the recent study activities performed by ESA, including a critical review of the main requirements and a discussion on the associated impact at system level. The model payload presently considered for XEUS is also presented, as well as the technology developments needs.
XTRA: the fast x-ray timing detector on XEUS
High-Energy Detectors in Astronomy, 2004
The Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) has demonstrated that the dynamical variation of the X-ray emission from accreting neutron stars and stellar mass black holes is a powerful probe of their strong gravitational fields. At the same time, the X-ray burst oscillations at the neutron star spin frequency have been used to set important constraints on the mass and radius of neutron stars, hence on the equation of state of their high density cores. The X-ray Evolving Universe Spectroscopy mission (XEUS), the potential follow-on mission to XMM−Newton, will have a mirror aperture more than ten times larger than the effective area of the RXTE proportional counter array (PCA). Combined with a small dedicated fast X-ray timing detector in the focal plane (XTRA: XEUS Timing for Relativistic Astrophysics), this collecting area will provide a leap in timing sensitivity by more than one order of magnitude over the PCA for bright sources, and will open a brand new window on faint X-ray sources, owing to the negligible detector background. The use of advanced Silicon drift chambers will further improve the energy resolution by a factor of ∼ 6 over the PCA, so that spectroscopic diagnostics of the strong field region, such as the relativistically broadened Iron line, will become exploitable. By combining fast X-ray timing and spectroscopy, XTRA will thus provide the first real opportunity to test general relativity in the strong gravity field regime and to constrain with unprecedented accuracy the equation of state of matter at supranuclear density.
ATHENA+: The first deep universe X-ray observatory
The Advanced Telescope for High-energy Astrophysics (Athena+) is being proposed to ESA as the L2 mission (for a launch in 2028) and is specifically designed to answer two of the most pressing questions for astrophysics in the forthcoming decade: How did ordinary matter assemble into the large scale structures we see today? and how do black holes grow and shape the Universe? For addressing these two issues, Athena+ will provide transformational capabilities in terms of angular resolution, effective area, spectral resolution, grasp, that will make it the most powerful X-ray observatory ever flown. Such an observatory, when opened to the astronomical community, will be used for virtually all classes of astrophysical objects, from high-z gamma-ray bursts to the closest planets in our solar neighborhood. In this paper, we briefly review the core science objectives of Athena+, present the science requirements and the foreseen implementation of the mission, and illustrate its transformational capabilities compared to existing facilities.
The Energetic X-ray Imaging Survey Telescope (EXIST)
Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 2009
The Energetic X-ray Imaging Survey Telescope (EXIST) is a proposed hard X-ray imaging all-sky deep survey mission recommended by the Report of the 2001 Decadal Survey. It is a strong candidate to be the Black Hole Finder Probe, one of the three "Einstein Probes" in the Beyond Einstein Program. In its new more evolved form, the EXIST mission now includes a simplified, but more sensitive, very large area and field of view imaging hard X-ray telescope as well as a 1.1m optical-NIR telescope (0.3-2.5microns) for rapid ( 100sec) followup imaging and spectra and thus prompt redshifts of high-z GRBs. The IRT will also permit identification and galaxy spectra for a significant fraction of the obscured AGNs detected in the EXIST full sky survey. The primary science objectives for EXIST are to: 1) study the earliest stars, re-ionization, and development of structure in the universe with prompt hard X-ray and prompt followup NIR measurements of GRBs at z >7, 2) constrain the accretion luminosity of the universe by measurements of high luminosity obscured AGN at z 0-2.5, low luminosity AGN at z <0.5 and dormant AGN (from tidal disruption events) at z <0.1, and 3) provide the most sensitive and wide-field measures of the transient universe with X-ray/OIR studies of Blazars, black hole transients and high energy variables with full-sky coverage every 3h, in synergy with GLAST and PanSTARRS, as well as LSST, JWST and other planned facilities. With >10X the area of Swift/BAT and much broader energy band, as well deep NIR coverage with a passively cooled mirror, EXIST greatly surpasses any previous or proposed mission for wide-field imaging and spectroscopy of GRBs and black holes on all scales.