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Themes > Science > Physics > Astrophysics > The History of High-Energy Astrophysics > 1995-1999 |
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Dec 10, 1999 |
Launch of the X-Ray Multi-Mirror Mission (XMM), renamed after launch to XMM-Newton . XMM-Newton is an ESA facility-class X-ray observatory, the second cornerstone of ESA's Horizon 2000 program, and has an anticipated lifetime of ten years. XMM-Newton works in the energy range from 0.1 to 15 keV, and its large effective area of 4650 square cm will enable it to observe cosmic X-ray sources down to a limiting flux of order 10**-16 erg/sec/cm². To broaden the scope of XMM-Newton's investigations, it also carries an Optical Monitor that can simultaneously study the optical/UV properties of the observed sources (still operational). |
Jul 23, 1999 |
Launch of the Chandra X-Ray Observatory (CXO; formerly known as the Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility or AXAF), the last of NASA's `Great Observatories'. Chandra has an unprecedented ability to make high spatial-resolution X-ray observations, and additional capabilities using gratings to make high spectral-resolution observations, of celestial X-ray sources (still operational). |
Jun 24, 1999 |
Launch of the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE): the first in a series of NASA Medium-Class Explorer missions, with a primary objective to cover the wavelength range between 900 and 1250 Angstroms (90 -125 nanometers) and primary science goals that include measuring the deuterium to hydrogen ratio in interstellar and intergalactic media and studying the chemical evolution of galaxies (still operational). |
Apr 28, 1999 |
Launch of A Broad-band Imaging X-Ray All-Sky Survey (ABRIXAS), a small satellite mission which was designed to observe the X-ray sky in the energy band from 0.5 to 10 keV. This mission was the product of a consortium of German institutions: the Astrophysikalisches Institut Potsdam (AIP), the Max-Planck-Institut fur extraterrestrische Physik (MPE), and the Institut fur Astronomie und Astrophysik, Tubingen (IAAT). ABRIXAS experienced problems with its battery shortly after launch, and contact with it was lost on May 1, 1999. The scientific part of the mission was declared a loss on July 1, 1999. |
Feb 23, 1999 |
Launch of the Advanced Research and Global Observation Satellite (ARGOS): one of the experiments on this USAF satellite is the Unconventional Stellar Aspect (USA) Experiment which is designed to do X-ray timing and time-resolved spectroscopy of relatively bright X-ray sources, such as X-ray binaries. |
Feb 12, 1999 |
End of operations of the Roentgen Satellite (ROSAT), an X-ray (0.1 - 2 keV) and EUV (0.02 - 0.3 keV) astronomy mission due to an international collaboration between Germany, the UK, and the US. This mission had two phases, an All-Sky Survey phase in which the spinning satellite mapped the entire sky in both X-rays and the EUV (and detected more than 100,000 discrete X-ray sources), and a pointed observation phase in which the satellite could make deep observations of selected positions in the sky. The results obtained from more than 8 years of ROSAT observations revolutionized the field of X-ray astronomy, e.g., by increasing the number of known X-ray sources by a factor of 30 over the number known prior to ROSAT. |
Nov 27, 1998 |
End of operations of Granat, a Russian-led mission dedicated to X-ray and gamma-ray astronomy. Its instruments included WATCH, an all-sky monitor in the 6 to 120 keV energy band, SIGMA, a coded-mask X-ray telescope, PHEBUS, a gamma-ray burst experiment, and 4 other experiments. |
Apr 21, 1997 |
Launch of the Spanish Minisat 1 carrying Low Energy Gamma Ray Imager (LEGRI) experiment on the INTA (Spanish space agency) MINISAT-01 platform. This instrument is studying gamma-ray bursts (still operational?). |
Nov 04, 1996 |
Launch of the High-Energy Transient Experiment (HETE-01) satellite and the Satelite de Aplicaciones Cientificas B (SAC-B) satellite carrying the Cosmic Unresolved Background Instrument using CCDs (CUBIC) (an X-ray spectrometer). Unfortunately, the Pegasus XL third stage failed to separate properly and both spacecraft remained attached. As a result, no scientific data were obtained from this mission, which was declared a loss: however, a HETE-02 mission was approved and will be launched in 2000. |
Sep 30, 1996 |
Shut-down of IUE operations. After almost 19 years of mission operations, the International Ultraviolet Explorer spacecraft was shut down at 18:42 UT (due to budget constraints). During its lifetime, IUE collected over 100,000 images from approximately 9300 objects. |
Apr 30, 1996 |
Launch of Satellite per Astronomia a raggi X (Italian for X-ray Astronomy Satellite), renamed "BeppoSAX" after it reached its orbit (still operational). |
Dec 30, 1995 |
Launch of the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) (still operational). |
Dec 7, 1995 |
Descent of the Galileo atmospheric probe into Jupiter's cloud deck. The atmospheric probe detached from the main Galileo platform in July, 1995. |
Sep 30, 1995 |
Termination of the Pioneer 11 mission due to failing power supply. |
Jun 29, 1995 9:00 EDT |
Space shuttle Atlantis (STS-71) docks with the Russian space station Mir. It is the second joint U.S. - Russian mission, and the 100th U.S. manned mission. |
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