Chandra (AXAF)
Short Description:
The Chandra X-ray Observatory (formerly known as the Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility - AXAF) is the NASA follow-up mission to the Einstein Observatory. The Chandra instrumentation consists of a high resolution mirror, two imaging detectors, and two sets of transmission gratings with following important features: an order of magnitude improvement in spatial resolution, good sensitivity from 0.1 to 10 keV, and the capability for high spectral resolution observations over most of this range. The MPE contributed the Low Energy Transmission Grating (LETG) in collaboration with the Space Research Organisation Netherlands (SRON) in Utrecht.
Project Type:
Instrument for satellite
MPE Contribution:
Low Energy Transmission Grating (LETG)
Status:
Launch: July 23, 1999 (by Space Shuttle Columbia; STS-93)
actual status: active; in Earth orbit
mission end: open
Links:
High-Energy Astrophysics (web pages of the MPE department involved in the project)
