Spacetrack Directory Name | XMM |
Alternative name | XMM-NEWTON |
Follow XMM | XMM Tracker |
Pass predictions XMM | Pass predictions XMM |
Orbit launches | 1999-12-10 (24 years ago) |
Days in orbit | 9107 |
Country/organisation of origin | European Space Agency (ESA) |
Starting point | FRGUI (Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana) |
Categories | |
Perigee | 18693 km |
Apogee | 102413 km |
Orbit slope (inclination) | 67.2° |
Laps per day | 1 |
Orbit | Elliptical (Deep Highly Eccentric) |
Height XMM | 69537.19 km |
XMM-Newton, also known as the High Throughput X-ray Spectroscopy Mission and the X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission, is an X-ray space observatory launched by the European Space Agency in December 1999 on an Ariane 5 rocket. It is the second cornerstone mission of ESA's Horizon 2000 programme. Named after physicist and astronomer Sir Isaac Newton, the spacecraft is tasked with investigating interstellar X-ray sources, performing narrow- and broad-range spectroscopy, and performing the first simultaneous imaging of objects in both X-ray and optical (visible and ultraviolet) wavelengths.Originally scheduled for a two-year mission, the spacecraft remains in good health and has received repeated mission extensions, most recently in November 2018 and is scheduled to operate until the end of 2020. It will probably receive a mission extension lasting until 2022. ESA plans to succeed XMM-Newton with the Advanced Telescope for High Energy Astrophysics (ATHENA), the second large mission in the Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 plan, to be launched in 2028. XMM-Newton is similar to NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, also launched in 1999.
As of May 2018, close to 5,600 papers have been published about either XMM-Newton or the scientific results it has returned.