Category: MISSIONS
ASTRO-H (Hitomi) / SXS
Hitomi being prepared for launch. Artist impression of Hitomi. The Perseus cluster of galaxies is filled with a hot X-ray-emitting gas, as seen in this image from the Chandra X-ray Observatory. Astronomers using the Soft X-ray Spectrometer aboard the Hitomi satellite have, for the first time, mapped the motion of this gas and determined its …
SPICA/SAFARI
The SPICA satellite, to be launched iaround 2030. SAFARI will also be able to detect water ice in many protoplanetary systems and to investigate how this influences the birth and evolution of planets. Schematic illustration of the galactic baryon cycle. Star formation and stellar evolution lead to SNe and stellar mass loss, seeding the ISM …
Other/earlier projects
EXOSAT @ESA COS-B @ESA ANS @Wikipedia ESRO II @Wikipedia OGO 5 @NASA
COMIS / TTM on the MIR space station
The Mir station in 2000 COMIS view of the Galactic center, Sept. 22-23, 1989 The COMIS detector Full COMIS model including the star sensor In 1981, Kees de Jager, one of the founders of SRON, was asked by Roald Sagdeev, director of the Space Research Institute (IKI) in Moscow, whether he might have any suggestions …
CGRO/COMPTEL
Launch of the Compton Gamma-ray Observatory by the space shuttle Atlantis COMPTEL was the MeV Compton gamma-ray telescope on board of the NASA Compton Gamma-Ray observatory (CGRO). This was the second of NASA’s Great Observatories, with17 tons the heaviest scientific payload ever flown at the time of its launch on April 5, 1991 aboard the …
BeppoSAX/WFC
Launch of BeppoSAX from Cape Canaveral The X-ray astronomy satellite BeppoSAX (“SAX” for Satellite per Astronomia X and “Beppo” in honor of Giuseppe Occhialini) was a project of the Italian Space Agency (ASI) with participation of the Netherlands Agency for Aerospace Programs (NIVR). The scientific instrumentation on BeppoSAX consisted of the Wide Field Cameras built …
ARIEL
ARIEL will characterise the atmospheres of hundreds of planets orbiting stars other than our Sun. By observing the spectrum of the light blocked by an exoplanet atmosphere, we are able to identify the molecular content of these atmospheres and search for signs of possible clouds. (ESA) ARIEL is ESA’s fourth M-class mission, with a launch …
XMM-Newton / RGS
Launch of XMM-Newton from French Guiana Artist impression of XMM-Newton in orbit The XMM-Newton mirror module Reflection Grating Spectrometer (RGS) XMM-Newton (ESA, 1999) carries three X-ray telescopes and an optical monitor. These instruments offer a wide range of capabilities: X-ray imaging, spectrometry, photometry and optical monitoring. The mission enables scientists to solve a number of …
IRAS / LRS
IRAS being tested The Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) was a joint project of the US, UK and the Netherlands. The Low Resolution Spectrometer (LRS) onboard was built by SRON/LEA. IRAS performed an unbiased, sensitive all-sky survey at 12, 25, 60 and 100 µm. About 350,000 infrared sources were detected. IRAS discoveries included a disk of dust grains …
