athena

Reconstructing a three dimensional view of stellar explosions

From the calcium in our bones to the iron in our blood, and oxygen we breathe, are largely the result of stellar processes, particularly supernovae. In the well known sentence  "we are all made of stars," we acknowledge our cosmic heritage and the role of these stellar explosions in making life possible.

The X-IFU Consortium represented at SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation

It is a technical event for ground-based, airborne, and space-based telescopes, and their supporting instrumentation. 

Read more

A key design meeting on the 4K Core DM

A key design point on the 4K Core Demonstration Model was held on April 30 at CNES. The main objective was to present the demonstrator’s preliminary design, development plan and test plan, and to check the demonstrator’s compatibility with the recently delivered test cryostat.

Read more

People of X-IFU – Interview with Aurora SIMIONESCU

Aurora Simionescu is co-Principal Investigator for the NewAthena X-IFU project & Research Scientist at SRON, Netherlands Institute for Space Research. In this interview, she looks back on her career and her new role as Co-PI.

Read more

Instrument response files have been updated

The X-IFU has recently undergone several changes in its design architecture. An important work ahead of the launch is to analyse, verify and understand the X-IFU capabilities when observing. That’s why the instrument response files have been updated.

Read more

People of X-IFU – Interview with Simon BANDLER

Simon Bandler is Project manager for the U.S. contribution to the X-IFU & Research Astrophysicist at NASA. He shares with us his background in low-temperature physics detection and explains his role in the project.

Read more

A new Cryogenic Workshop and NASA’s 4-K Cooler contribution

A new cryogenic workshop, the first gathering of all the main parties in the newly reformulated X-IFU cooling chain, took place January 31st through February 2nd in Toulouse, at CNES.

Read more

Winner of the Women Astronomer Infographic Contest

The result of the Women Astronomer Infographic contest to celebrate the International Day of Girls and Women in Science is out! The contest aimed to showcase the invaluable contributions of women astronomers through engaging infographics.

Read more

Delivery of the DRE DEMUX Demonstrator Model PCB at IRAP

The DRE De-multiplexing (DEMUX) Demonstrator Model (DM) printed circuit board (PCB) arrived at IRAP on January 15. It was designed by the DRE team at IRAP, with CAO-concept handling the layout and CIBEL the manufacturing. 

Read more

Successful tests of the ADR control electronics

We’re delighted to share with you one of the latest news on the project’s progress. At the end of 2023, successful tests were carried out at CEA DSBT in Grenoble.

Read more

11th of February 2024: Women Astronomer Infographic Contest

To celebrate the International Day of Girls and Women in Science (11th of February), we launch a call to highlight the invaluable contributions of women astronomers,

Read more

Best wishes for 2024!

The year 2023 has just come to an end. 2024 opens with new perspectives for the X-IFU project and for the Consortium. On behalf of the X-IFU Consortium, we would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your confidence. We wish you all a very happy and successful new year!

Read more

Stay in the loop!

Get the Athena X-IFU newsletter

    English