"ESA's
Future Programme in High-Energy Astronomy
Dr. Arvind Parmar (Astrophysics Mission Division Research & Scientific Support Department ESA, Netherlands)
Abstract:
ESA has ambitious plans in high-energy astronomy. As well as XMM-Newton which was launched in 1999, and INTEGRAL which is due for launch in a few weeks, ESA is currently studying 4 future high-energy astronomy missions.
These are
Lobster-ISS, an all-sky imaging X-ray monitor, Rosita - a medium energy
X-ray survey telescope, the Extreme Universe Space Observatory (EUSO)
which will study the highest energy cosmic rays by using the Earth's
atmosphere as a giant detector and XEUS - the X-ray Evolving Universe
Spectroscopy Mission, a potential successor to ESA's XMM-Newton X-ray
observatory. These first 3 missions will be attached to the external platforms
on the Columbus module on the International Space Station (ISS), while
XEUS will visit the ISS to attach additional X-ray mirrors to enlarge the
original 4.5 m diameter mirrors to the 10 m diameter required to observed
redshifted iron lines from massive black holes in the early Universe.