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The year 2023 has just come to an end. 2024 opens with new perspectives for the X-IFU project and for the Consortium.
2023 was an intense year, focused on the reformulation phase of the Athena mission and the X-IFU instrument. We all worked hard to get to the point of announcing the restart of industrial studies. ESA’s Science Committee Programme acknowledged in November that the Athena mission is still flagship. The SPC recognizes that the Athena mission will provide answers to major scientific questions in a variety of astrophysical sources, related to the hot and energetic universe.
It’s a success that would not have been possible without the involvement of all the teams in the Consortium, whom we would like to thank warmly in the expression of these wishes for 2024. Achieving this goal was possible thanks to the motivation and commitment of the X-IFU team, ESA, NASA and JAXA. We can all be proud of this great team effort.
This new year will undoubtedly be a year of impetus, with the aim of the Mission Adoption in 2027. At the last Consortium meeting, we were able to discuss the latest technical advances. Overall all subsystems are making great progresses in terms of design and maturity and we’re confident that the new year will bring even more concrete results for this project, which is the focus of all our efforts.
2024 will be a dynamic year for the life of the X-IFU Consortium. We’ll be taking the time to value the results of the instrument’s Life Cycle Assessment. It is an important project and a first step towards reducing our environmental impact. Our aim is to raise awareness and encourage actions that will have a positive impact and help meet the challenges of today’s ecological transition.
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!
Didier Barret & Vincent Albouys
X-IFU Principal Investigator & X-IFU Project Manager
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