ESA plans to launch biggest X-ray space telescope ever built

[smurfy]

[img]http://imgkk.com/i/lk3t.jpg[/img]

[url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-28053831[/url]
[quote]Europe has initiated the process that should lead to the biggest X-ray space telescope ever built.

Dubbed Athena, the satellite will be some 12m in length and weigh about five tonnes when launched in 2028.

The European Space Agency's (Esa) Science Programme Committee selected the project at a meeting in Toulouse.

Design work now will confirm the technologies and industrial capability needed to construct the mission, which is costed at over one billion euros.

"It's a tremendously exciting moment for the team; it's not every day you have a billion-euro decision go in your favour," said Prof Paul Nandra, the chairman of the Athena Coordination Group.

"We've just got to build it and get it up there, and as long as we do our job right, there's nothing that should stop that," he told BBC News.[/quote]

[bravehat]

Fuck yeah, our telescopes have had a mountain topped blown apart and now we're gonna send the biggest X-Ray telescope to space, suck it Hubble!

[Antianan]

[QUOTE=bravehat;45227928]Fuck yeah, our telescopes have had a mountain topped blown apart and now we're gonna send the biggest X-Ray telescope to space, suck it Hubble![/QUOTE]

Hubble is optical, while this one is, obviously, not, so they should not be compared with each other, since they are completely different devices with different goals.

[Complifused]

[thumb]http://i.imgur.com/XrX5ZP9.jpg[/thumb]