[Previous] | [Session 80] | [Next]
H. Inoue (ISAS), Astro-E Team
Astro-E is the fifth X-ray astronomy satellite of ISAS/Japan and is scheduled for launch in January - February, 2000. An extensive collaboration between Japanese and U.S. scientists is being carried out in the joint developments of some of the scientific instruments. Astro-E will carry five medium energy X-ray telescopes and one hard X-ray instrument. Four of the medium energy X-ray telescopes (XRT) will focus X-rays onto separate X-ray Imaging Spectrometer (XIS) detectors. The fifth XRT will focus X-rays onto the X-ray Spectrometer Instrument (XRS) detector. The XIS detectors are X-ray CCD cameras which cover an energy range of 0.4 -- 10 keV with a typical energy resolution of 100 eV. The XRS is an X-ray microcalorimeter array which covers an energy range similar to the XIS with a typical energy resolution of 10 eV. The Hard X-ray Detector (HXD) is a combination of well-type phoswich scintillators and Si PIN detectors and covers the 10 -- 700 keV range. With these instruments, Astro-E will be capable of conducting high-thoughput, high-resolution, wide-band X-ray spectroscopy of cosmic sources to provide new insight into the nature and fundamental physics of some of the most energetic objects in the Universe.