Advanced Telescope for High Energy Astrophysics
Athena mission logo | |||||||
| Names | Athena | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mission type | Space telescope | ||||||
| Operator | European Space Agency (ESA) | ||||||
| Website | www | ||||||
| Mission duration | 4 years (planned) | ||||||
| Start of mission | |||||||
| Launch date | 2037 (planned) | ||||||
| Rocket | Ariane 64 | ||||||
| Launch site | Centre Spatial Guyanais | ||||||
| Contractor | Arianespace | ||||||
| Orbital parameters | |||||||
| Reference system | L1 point (baseline) | ||||||
| Main telescope | |||||||
| Type | X-ray telescope | ||||||
| Focal length | 12 m (39 ft) | ||||||
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instruments_list, instruments.Advanced Telescope for High-ENergy Astrophysics (Athena) is an X-ray observatory mission selected by European Space Agency (ESA) within its Cosmic Vision program to address the 'Hot and Energetic Universe' scientific theme. The primary goals of the mission are to map hot gas structures, determine their physical properties, and search for supermassive black holes.
Athena will operate in the energy range of 0.2–12 keV and will offer spectroscopic and imaging capabilities exceeding those of currently operating X-ray telescopes—e.g. the Chandra X-ray Observatory and XMM-Newton—by at least one order of magnitude on multiple different parameters.