The International X-ray Observatory

TL;DR

The International X-ray Observatory (IXO) is a planned joint mission by ESA, JAXA, and NASA to explore black holes, galaxy formation, and cosmic structure with advanced X-ray optics and instruments, launching around 2021.

Contribution

IXO introduces significantly enhanced X-ray optics and instruments, enabling unprecedented observations of astrophysical phenomena related to black holes and cosmic structure.

Findings

20x more collecting area at 1 keV than previous observatories

High-resolution spectroscopy and wide-field imaging capabilities

Unprecedented polarimetric sensitivity and timing precision

Abstract

The International X-ray Observatory (IXO) is a joint ESA-JAXA-NASA effort to address fundamental and timely questions in astrophysics: What happens close to a black hole? How did supermassive black holes grow? How does large scale structure form? What is the connection between these processes? To address these questions IXO will employ optics with 3 sq m collecting area and 5 arc sec angular resolution - 20 times more collecting area at 1 keV than any previous X-ray observatory. Focal plane instruments will deliver a 100-fold increase in effective area for high-resolution spectroscopy, deep spectral imaging over a wide field of view, unprecedented polarimetric sensitivity, microsecond spectroscopic timing, and high count rate capability. The mission is being planned for launch in 2021 to an L2 orbit, with a five-year lifetime and consumables for 10 years.