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This is where you will find all the latest news about the project.

Successful coupling of the X-IFU Warm Front-End Electronics demonstrator at SRON

A major milestone has been reached beginning of October 2025 in the development of the Warm Front-End Electronics (WFEE) for […]

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. 

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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.

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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.

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Thomas DAUSER receives the 2024 HEAD Innovation Prize from the AAS

Congratulations to Thomas Dauser, who receives the 2024 HEAD Innovation Prize from the American Astronomical Society (AAS).

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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People of X-IFU – Interview with Sophie BEAUMONT

Sophie Beaumont is a detection chain engineer in the optoelectronics department at CNES. In this interview, she explains her motivations and different roles and tasks within the project.

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Focus on AVS, the company in charge of the X-IFU Dewar

Focus on AVS, the company in charge of the Dewar. Added Value Solutions, is a global SME established in 2006. Today AVS is one of the world’s leading companies specialized in the design and development of critical systems for Big Science.

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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. 

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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.

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