Since its launch in 1999, the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) has had a profound impact on many areas of astrophysics. Although the prime scientific instrument continues to perform well, numerous hardware failures on the attitude control system, particularly those of gyroscopes and reaction wheels, have made science operations a challenge. As each new obstacle has appeared, it has been overcome, although sometimes with changes in sky coverage capability or modifications to pointing performance. The CalFUSE data pipeline has also undergone major changes to correct for a variety of instrumental effects, and to prepare for the final archiving of the data. We describe the current state of the FUSE satellite and the challenges of operating it with only one reaction wheel and discuss the current performance of the mission and the quality of the science data.

The AGILE Mission will explore the gamma-ray Universe with a very innovative instrument combining for the first time a gamma-ray imager (sensitive in the range 30 MeV - 50 GeV) and a hard X-ray imager (sensitive in the range 15-45 keV). An optimal angular resolution and a large field of view are obtained by the use of state-of-the-art Silicon detectors integrated in a very compact instrument. AGILE will be operational at the beginning of 2007 and it will provide crucial data for the study of Active Galactic Nuclei, Gamma-Ray Bursts, unidentified gamma-ray sources, Galactic compact objects, supernova remnants, TeV sources, and fundamental physics by microsecond timing.

The Swift gamma-ray burst explorer was launched on Nov. 20, 2004 from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The first instrument onboard became fully operational less than a month later. Since that time the Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) on Swift has detected more than one hundred gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), most of which have also been observed within two minutes by the Swift narrow-field instruments: the X-Ray Telescope (XRT) and the Ultra- Violet and Optical Telescope (UVOT). Swift trigger notices are distributed worldwide within seconds of the trigger through the Gamma-ray burst Coordinates Network (GCN) and a substantial fraction of GRBs have been followed up by ground and space-based telescopes, ranging in wavelength from radio to TeV. Results have included the first rapid localization of a short GRB and further validation of the theory that short and long bursts have different origins; detailed observations of the power-law decay of burst afterglows leading to an improved understanding of the fireball and afterglow models; and detection of the most distant GRB ever found. Swift is also a sensitive X-ray observatory with capabilities to monitor galactic and extragalactic transients on a daily basis, carry out the first all-sky hard X-ray survey since HEAO-1, and study in detail the spectra of X-ray transients.

Suzaku satellite, the Japan-US collaborative mission, was successfully launched on July 10, 2006. It is equipped with 5 soft X-ray telescopes (XRT), one micro-calorimeter (XRS), 4 CCD cameras (XIS), and one hard X-ray detector (HXD). Though XRS is not operational, XIS and HXD provide us with new views of thermal and non-thermal phenomena. Better efficiency and energy resolution of CCD allow us to investigate emission lines from C and O, as well as Fe-K lines. Objectives are planetary nebula, supernova remnants, Galactic center and cluster of galaxies. The status and origin of the plasmas are well examined from the line energies, line ratios, and line broadening. Another area, Suzaku satellite has advantages is broadband spectroscopy with better sensitivity. Targets are X-ray binaries, active galactic nuclei, and cluster of galaxies. Non-thermal components are well determined by the broad band spectra and their variability. Broad iron lines are well confirmed with accurate determination of underlying continuum components. After the performance verification phase with 70 targets, the first term of general observer program (AO-1) has been started from April 1. AO-2 proposals are due December 1, 2006. It is also announce that a Suzaku Symposium will be held on December 4-8, Kyoto, Japan.

Since hot 100,000-1,000,000K gas in stars radiates predominantly at EUV and soft X-ray wavelengths, observations in these bands provide important diagnostics of the physical conditions in hot photospheres, stellar coronae and stellar winds. However, such studies are only able to examine the bulk of material, without being able to separate out the several gas components present. Radial velocity diagnostics have been used frequently in the UV and visible bands to distinguish different emission or absorption components in stellar spectra. Now, developments in grating and instrument technology provide a first opportunity to extend this technique into the EUV. Based on capabilities of the improved JPEX spectrometer (reported elsewhere in this volume), this paper reports on the key science that might be carried out with such an instrument; both as a sounding rocket payload and longer duration mission.

Progress of modern astrophysics requires the access to the electromagnetic spectrum in the broadest energy range. The ultraviolet is a fundamental energy domain; warm plasmas at temperatures of 3,000-300,000 K radiate in this range, also the electronic transitions of the most abundant molecules in the Universe are in the UV. Moreover, the UV radiation field is a powerful astrochemical and photoionizing agent. Some of the most relevant problems in modern astrophysical research are related with the properties and abundance of this warm plasma in the Universe, e.g. the chemical enrichment of the Universe, the formation of the galaxies or the contribution of the InterGalactic Medium (IGM) to the total mass of the Universe. Also, this plasma is the primary tracer of some very important processes for the generation of life in our planet like the onset and stabilization of the Solar dynamo or the acceleration of organic chemistry processes in young planetary disks. This contribution represents a brief accounting of the BIG science to be carried out if new UV instrumentation becomes, eventually, available.

Micro-X is a proposed sounding rocket experiment that will combine a transition-edge-sensor X-ray-microcalorimeter array with a conical imaging mirror to obtain high-spectral-resolution images of extended and point X-ray sources. We describe the payload and the science targeted by this mission including the discussion of three possible Micro- X targets: the Puppis A supernova remnant, the Virgo Cluster, and Circinus X-1. For example, a Micro-X observation of the bright eastern knot of Puppis A will obtain a line-dominated spectrum with 90,000 counts collected in 300 seconds at 2 eV resolution across the 0.3-2.5 keV band. Micro-X will utilize plama diagnostics to determine the thermodynamic and ionization state of the plasma, to search for line shifts and broadening associated with dynamical processes, and seek evidence of ejecta enhancement. For clusters of galaxies, Micro-X can uniquely study turbulence and the temperature distribution function. For binaries, Micro-X's high resolution spectra will separate the different processes contributing to the Fe K lines at 6 keV and give a clear view of the geometry of the gas flows and circumstellar gas.

Non-thermal phenomena is now-a-days recognized as an important half of the energetics of the Universe. Hard X-ray emission from energetic particles is the most important clue to investigate the non-thermal phenomena. Hard X-ray imaging telescopes are known to improve the sensitivity of hard X-ray observations dramatically. Since hard X-rays above 25 keV can be observed at the altitude of 40 km, we are performing hard X-ray imaging balloon experiments as the path finders of future satellite missions of hard X-ray imaging. Major fields we are looking into are non-thermal components from SNR and Cluster of galaxies and the power law components from AGN even with thick column. The former are related to acceleration mechanisms of high energy particles responsible for hard X-ray power law components. The latter is the complete search of emission from massive blackholes which contribute most to the cosmic X-ray background. Our current balloon programs are InFOCμS experiment and SUMIT project. NeXT is the hard X-ray imaging mission proposed as the next Japanese X-ray mission.

High resolution and signal to noise spectral observations of AGN outflows in the UV demonstrate the need for using covering factor models in calculating absorber column densities. We study the best X-ray data set of an AGN outflow, the Chandra 900 kilosecond observation of NGC 3783, for similar effects in the strongly saturated line series of NeX and OVII. Velocity-dependent covering factor generates much better fits to the OVII He-like series than full covering with the same amount of column. There is also evidence for covering factor in strong L-shell Fe lines. With the low resolution of the HETGS relative to absorption troughs, full covering and partial covering yield similar fits to the NeX Lyman series. Still, both models produce NeX column densities 5 times higher than previous analyses. We generate synthetic data for the future Con-X mission and compare to the Chandra 900 ks data. We calculate the necessary resolution and effective area to correctly identify covering factor models.

The NeXT (New X-ray Telescope/Non-thermal Energy eXploration Telescope) mission has been proposed in Japan as a successor to the Suzaku mission. NeXT has two major mission goals, one is to study the high-energy non-thermal Universe by utilizing the technology of focusing optics above 10 keV, and second is to recover science which should have been achieved by the XRS of Suzaku. The mission will feature multiple instruments covering the bandpass ranging from 0.5 keV to 300 keV. NeXT will carry two hard X-ray telescopes for a hard X-ray imager, two soft X-ray telescopes, one is for a soft X-ray spectrometer, and the other is for a soft X-ray imager. In the soft gamma-ray band up to ~ 300 keV, a narrow field-of-view Compton gamma-ray telescope utilizing several tens of layers of thin Si or CdTe detector will provide high resolution spectra with much higher sensitivity than present instruments, along with polarization information. The continuum sensitivity of the mission will reach several x 10^-8 photons/s/keV/cm² in the hard X-ray region and a few x 10^-7 photons/s/keV/cm² in the soft γ-ray region.

Simbol-X is a hard X-ray mission, operating in the ~ 0.5-80 keV range, proposed as a collaboration between the French and Italian space agencies with participation of German laboratories for a launch in 2013. Relying on two spacecraft in a formation flying configuration, Simbol-X uses for the first time a 20-30 m focal length X-ray mirror to focus X-rays with energy above 10 keV, resulting in over two orders of magnitude improvement in angular resolution and sensitivity in the hard X-ray range with respect to non-focusing techniques. The Simbol-X revolutionary instrumental capabilities will allow us to elucidate outstanding questions in high energy astrophysics such as those related to black-holes accretion physics and census, and to particle acceleration mechanisms, which are the prime science objectives of the mission. After having undergone a thorough assessment study performed by CNES in the context of a selection of a formation flight scientific mission, Simbol-X has been selected for a phase A study to be jointly conducted by CNES and ASI. The mission science objectives, the current status of the instrumentation and mission design are presented in this paper.

We present our proposal for a small X-ray mission DIOS (Diffuse Intergalactic Oxygen Surveyor), consisting of a 4-stage X-ray telescope and an array of TES microcalorimeters, cooled with mechanical coolers, with a total weight of about 400 kg. The mission will perform survey observations of warm-hot intergalactic medium using OVII and OVIII emission lines, with the energy coverage up to 1.5 keV. The wide field of view of about 50' diameter, superior energy resolution close to 2 eV FWHM, and very low background will together enable us a wide range of science for diffuse X-ray sources. We briefly describe the design of the satellite, performance of the subsystems and the expected results.

The most recent observations of the cosmic microwave background (e.g., WMAP) show that baryons contribute about 4% to the total density of the Universe. However at redshift less than or equal to 1, about half of these baryons have not yet been observed. Cosmological simulations predict that these "missing" baryons should be distributed in filaments, have temperatures of 10⁵ to 10⁷ K and overdensities of a few to hundred times the average baryon density, forming the so-called Warm-Hot Intergalactic Medium (WHIM). There is increasing evidence from Chandra and XMM-Newton that the WHIM may indeed exist. However it is clear that to map the morphology of the WHIM and to measure its physical conditions, a completely different class of instruments is required. Measuring the WHIM in emission in the soft X-ray band is a promising option. To detect the relatively weak, extended emission of the WHIM, the instrument should have a large grasp (collecting area times field of view), and an energy resolving power of about 500 at 1 keV is required to separate the emission of these large scale filaments from foreground emission. We discuss a design that includes X-ray mirrors in combination with a large 2D cryogenic detector, which will allow us to map a significant fraction of this gas. Such detector and its read-out based on Frequency Domain Multiplexing, are currently under development at SRON. It seems feasible to build an array of 24 x 24 pixels of TES microcalorimeters with good energy resolution (few eV). This detector will be combined with a mirror design which is based on 2 and 4 reflections and gives a large area (> 500 cm²) over a relatively large field of view. A preliminary study of the mission concept indicates that this can be implemented in a relatively small satellite (total weight 650 kg). While the main goal of this satellite will be to map and study the physical properties of the missing baryons, the instrument's large area and large field of view will also result in major progress in related fields.

There is a growing consensus that a substantial fraction of the matter in the universe, especially what we think of as normal baryonic matter, exists in a tenuous, hot filamentary intergalactic medium often referred to as the Cosmic Web. Improving our understanding of the web has been a high priority scientific goal in NASA's planning and roadmapping activities. NASA recently supported an Origins Probe study that explored the observable phenomenology of the web in detail and developed concepts for the instrumentation and mission. The Baryonic Structure Probe operates in the ultraviolet spectral region, using primarily O VI (λλ 1032, 1038 angstrom) and HI Ly α (λ 1216 angstrom) as tracers of the web. A productive investigation requires both moderate resolution (R = λ/Δλ ~ 30000) absorption line spectroscopy using faint background quasars as continuum sources, and imaging of the diffuse filaments in emission lines of the same ions. Spectroscopic sensitivity to quasars as faint as V ~ 19 will probe a large number of sight lines to derive physical diagnostics over the redshift range 0 < z < 1. Spectral imaging with a wide field of view and sensitivity to a redshift range 0 < z < 0.3 will map the filaments in a large volume of the universe after the web had evolved to near its modern structure. This paper summarizes the scientific goals, identifies the measurement requirements derived from them, and describes the instrument concepts and overall mission architecture developed by the BSP study team.

SMESE (SMall Explorer For the study of Solar Eruptions) is a Franco-Chinese microsatellite mission. The scientific objectives of SMESE are the study of coronal mass ejections and flares. Its payload consists of three instrument packages : LYOT, DESIR and HEBS. LYOT is composed of a Lyman α (121.6 nm) coronagraph, a Lyman α disk imager and a far UV disk imager. DESIR is an infrared telescope working at 35 μm and 150 μm. HEBS is a high energy burst spectrometer working in X rays and γ rays covering the 10 keV to 600 MeV range. SMESE will be launched around 2011, providing a unique opportunity of detecting and understanding eruptions at the maximum activity phase of the solar cycle in a wide range of energies. The instrumentation on board SMESE is described in this paper.

We present a mission designed to address two main themes of the ESA Cosmic Vision Programme: the Evolution of the Universe and its Violent phenomena. ESTREMO/WFXRT is based on innovative instrumental and observational approaches, out of the mainstream of observatories of progressively increasing area, i.e.: Observing with fast reaction transient sources, like GRB, at their brightest levels, thus allowing high resolution spectroscopy. Observing and surveying through a X-ray telescope with a wide field of view and with high sensitivity extended sources, like cluster and Warm Hot Intragalactic Medium (WHIM). ESTREMO/WFXRT will rely on two cosmological probes: GRB and large scale X-ray structures. This will allow measurements of the dark energy, of the missing baryon mass in the local universe, thought to be mostly residing in outskirts of clusters and in hot filaments (WHIM) accreting onto dark matter structures, the detection of first objects in the dark Universe, the history of metal formation. The key asset of ESTREMO/WFXRT with regard to the study of Violent Universe is the capability to observe the most extreme objects of the Universe during their bursting phases. The large flux achieved in this phase allows unprecedented measurements with high resolution spectroscopy. The mission is based on a wide field X-ray/hard X-ray monitor, covering >1/4 of the sky, to localize transients; fast (min) autonomous follow-up with X-ray telescope (2000 cm²) equipped with high resolution spectroscopy transition edge (TES) microcalorimeters (2eV resolution below 2 keV) and with a wide field (1°) for imaging with 10" resolution (CCD) extended faint structures and for cluster surveys. A low background is achieved by a 600 km equatorial orbit. The performances of the mission on GRB and their use as cosmological beacons are presented and discussed.

The Monitor e Imageador de Raios-X (MIRAX) is a small (~250 kg) X-ray astronomy satellite mission designed to monitor the central Galactic plane for transient phenomena. With a field-of-view of ~1000 square degrees and an angular resolution of ~6 arcmin, MIRAX will provide an unprecedented discovery-space coverage to study X-ray variability in detail, from fast X-ray novae to long-term (~several months) variable phenomena. Chiefly among MIRAX science objectives is its capability of providing simultaneous complete temporal coverage of the evolution of a large number of accreting black holes, including a detailed characterization of the spectral state transitions in these systems. MIRAX's instruments will include a soft X-ray (2-18 keV) and two hard X-ray (10-200 keV) coded-aperture imagers, with sensitivities of ~5 and ~2.6 mCrab/day, respectively. The hard X-ray imagers will be built at the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE), Brazil, in close collaboration with the Center for Astrophysics & Space Sciences (CASS) of the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and the Institut fur Astronomie und Astrophysik of the University of Tubingen (IAAT) in Germany; UCSD will provide the crossed-strip position-sensitive (0.5- mm spatial resolution) CdZnTe (CZT) hard X-ray detectors. The soft X-ray camera, provided by the Space Research Organization Netherlands (SRON), will be the spare flight unit of the Wide Field Cameras that flew on the Italian-Dutch satellite BeppoSAX. MIRAX is an approved mission of the Brazilian Space Agency (Agnecia Espacial Brasileira - AEB) and is scheduled to be launched in 2011 in a low-altitude (~550 km) circular equatorial orbit. In this paper we present recent developments in the mission planning and design, as well as Monte Carlo simulations performed on the GEANT-based package MGGPOD environment (Weidenspointner et al. 2004) and new algorithms for image digital processing. Simulated images of the central Galactic plane as it would be seen by MIRAX are shown.

A medium size satellite will be launched in the 2010-2011 timeframe into a 600 km equatorial (less than or equal to 5 deg.) orbit from Kourou or into a less than or equal to 30 deg. orbit from Baikonur as a fallback option. The payload includes eROSITA (extended ROentgen Survey with an Imaging Telescope Array, MPE, Germany) with 7 Wolter-type telescopes, the wide field X-ray monitor Lobster (LU, UK), the X-ray concentrator based on Kumakhov optics ART or coded-mask X-ray telescopes as a fallback (IKI, Russia) and GRB detector (Russian consortium). High particle background on high apogee orbits severely affects the capabilities of X-ray telescopes to study diffuse emission. For new baseline configuration of the SRG mission a low earth orbit was selected to circumvent this limitation. The mission will conduct the first all-sky survey with an imaging telescope in the 2-12 keV band to discover the hidden population of several hundred thousand obscured supermassive black holes and the first all-sky imaging X-ray time variability survey. In addition to the all-sky surveys it is foreseen to observe the extragalactic sky with high sensitivity to detect 50 to 100 thousand clusters of galaxies and thereafter to do follow-up pointed observations of selected sources, in order to investigate the nature of Dark Matter and Dark Energy. The new SRG mission would thus be a highly significant scientific and technological step beyond Chandra/XMM-Newton and would provide important and timely inputs for the next generation of giant X-ray observatories like XEUS/Con-X planned for the 2015-2025 horizon.

eROSITA (extended ROentgen Survey with an Imaging Telescope Array) will be one out of three main instruments on the Russian new Spectrum-RG mission which will be launched in the timeframe 2010-2011 into an equatorial Low Earth Orbit. The other two instruments are the wide field X-ray monitor Lobster (Leicester University, UK) and ART (IKI, Russia), an X-ray concentrator based on a Kumakhov optics. eROSITA consists of seven Wolter-I telescope modules similar to the German mission ABRIXAS which failed in 1999 and ROSITA, a telescope which was planned to be installed on the International Space Station ISS. Unlike these, the eROSITA telescope modules will be extended by adding another 27 mirror shells to the already existing ABRIXAS design. This will increase the effective area by a factor of ~5 at low energies. The additional shells do not contribute to the area at higher energies ( > 5 keV) due to the relative large grazing angles. Here we stay with the old ABRIXAS/ROSITA effective area. However, the primary scientific goal has changed since ABRIXAS: we are now aiming primarily for the detection of 50-100 thousands Clusters of Galaxies up to redshifts z > 1 in order to study the large scale structure in the Universe and test cosmological models including the Dark Energy, which was not yet known at ABRIXAS times. For the detection of clusters, a large effective area is needed at low (< 2 kev) energies. The mission scenario comprises a wide survey of the complete extragalactic area and a deep survey in the neighborhood of the Galactic Poles. Both are accomplished by an all-sky survey with a tilt of the rotation axis in order to shift the deepest exposures away from the ecliptic poles towards the galactic poles.

Some tests of fundamental physics - the equation of state at supra-nuclear densities, the metric in strong gravity, the effect of magnetic fields above the quantum critical value - can only be measured using compact astrophysical objects: neutron stars and black holes. The Extreme Physics Explorer is a modest sized (~500 kg) mission that would carry a high resolution (R ~300) X-ray spectrometer and a sensitive X-ray polarimeter, both with high time resolution (~5 μs) capability, at the focus of a large area (~5 sq.m), low resolution (HPD~1 arcmin) X-ray mirror. This instrumentation would enable new classes of tests of fundamental physics using neutron stars and black holes as cosmic laboratories.

X-Ray Polarimetry can be now performed by using a Micro Pattern Gas Chamber in the focus of a telescope. It requires large area optics for most important scientific targets. But since the technique is additive a dedicated mission with a cluster of small telescopes can perform many important measurements and bridge the 40 year gap between OSO-8 data and future big telescopes such as XEUS. POLARIX has been conceived as such a pathfinder. It is a Small Satellite based on the optics of JET-X. Two telescopes are available in flight configuration and three more can be easily produced starting from the available superpolished mandrels. We show the capabilities of such a cluster of telescopes each equipped with a focal plane photoelectric polarimeter and discuss a few alternative solutions.

The ISAS/JAXA Solar-B mission includes an Extreme-UV Imaging Spectrometer (EIS). It detects photons in the wavelength ranges 17 - 21 nm and 25 - 29 nm which include emission lines from several highly ionised species that exist at temperatures log T = 4.7, 5.6, 5.8, 5.9 and 6.0 - 7.3 K. Instrument throughput is increased substantially by the use of multilayer coatings optimized for maximum reflectance in the two selected wavelength bands. The use of back-illuminated CCDs provides significantly enhanced quantum efficiency over that previously available from microchannel plate systems. In this paper we will describe the design and operation of the instrument and present its performance parameters e.g. spectral and spatial resolution and sensitivity. Preliminary results of recent calibration measurements will be described. The role of EIS in the Solar-B mission will be illustrated with reference to the anticipated observing strategy for the first three months of the mission which will be outlined.

The Joint astrophysical Plasmadynamic EXperiment (J-PEX) is a high-resolution extreme ultraviolet (EUV) spectrometer (220-245 Å) used for the study of white dwarf atmospheres. Significant improvements have been achieved in both the normal-incidence gratings and the focal-plane detector since its first successful sounding rocket flight in 2001. The spherical laminar gratings have been replaced by paraboloidal gratings. The substrates of the new gratings have measured slope errors less than 0.35 arcsec. The gratings were recorded holographically and the rulings transferred into the silica substrates by ion etching. This procedure was followed by polymer overcoat to reduce the blaze angle of the groove profile. The detector uses microchannel plates with 6 μm pores and a cross-strip anode, providing 17.9 μm resolution in the dispersion direction. The detector employs a KBr photocathode with a projected efficiency of 0.24 at 256 Å. Using ray tracing simulations, we predict the resolving power expected from the spectrometer during upcoming EUV calibrations with a He II discharge source.

We have fabricated five new holographic ion-etched polymer-coated gratings for a reflight on a sounding rocket of the J-PEX high-resolution EUV spectrometer. The gratings are parabolic (nominal 2000-mm focal length), large (160 mm x 90 mm), and have a blazed groove profile of high density (3600 grooves/mm at the vertex). They have been coated with a high-reflectance multilayer of Mo/Si/C. Using an atomic force microscope, we examined grating topography before multilayer coating. The surface roughness is 2 angstrom rms and the blaze angle is near the target value of 2.4°. Using synchrotron radiation, we completed an efficiency calibration map of each multilayer-coated grating over the wavelength range 220-245 angstrom. At an angle of incidence of 5°, the average efficiency in the first inside order peaks near 234 angstrom. The average peak efficiency is 12.3 ± 1.0% for Grating 1, 12.6 ± 2.4% for Grating 2, 12.6 ± 1.8% for Grating 3, 14.1 ± 3.0% for Grating 4, and 13.0 ± 1.0% for Grating 5. The derived groove efficiency averaged over all gratings is approximately 50%, which meets our goals. Refined models of the multilayer gratings are required to resolve remaining issues.

The World Space Observatory Ultraviolet (WSO/UV) is a multi-national project grown out of the needs of the astronomical community to have future access to the ultraviolet range of the spectrum. The development of the WSO/UV S/C and the telescope is headed by the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos). The mission is scheduled to be launched in 2010 into the L2 orbit. The WSO/UV consists of a single Ultraviolet Telescope, incorporating a primary mirror of 1.7 m diameter feeding UV spectrometer and UV imagers. The UV spectrometer comprises three different single spectrographs, two high resolution echelle spectrographs - the High Resolution Double Echelle Spectrograph (HIRDES) - and a low dispersion long slit instrument. Within the HIRDES the spectral band (102 - 310 nm) is separated into two echelle spectrographs covering the UV range between 174- and 310 nm (UVES) and VacuumUV range between 102 and 176 nm (VUVES) with a very high spectral resolution of > 50000. Each spectrograph encompass a stand alone optical bench structure with a fully redundant high speed MCP detector system, the optomechanics and a network of mechanisms with different functionalities. The fundamental technical concept is based on the heritage of the two previous ORFEUS SPAS missions. The phase B1 development activities are described in this paper under consideration of performance aspects, design drivers, the related trade offs (e.g. mechanical concepts, material selection etc.) and the critical functional and environmental test verification approach. Furthermore the actual state of the other scientific instruments of the WSO/UV (e.g. UV imagers) project is described.

GALEX is a NASA Small Explorer mission that was launched in April 2003 and is now performing a survey of the sky in the far and near ultraviolet (FUV and NUV, 155 nm and 220 nm, respectively). The instrument comprises a 50 cm Ritchey-Chretien telescope with selectable imaging window or objective grism feeding a pair of photon-counting, microchannel-plate, delay-line readout detectors through a multilayer dichroic beamsplitter. The baseline mission is approximately 50% complete, with the instrument meeting its performance requirements for astrometry, photometry and resolution. Operating GALEX with a very small team has been a challenge, yet we have managed to resolve numerous satellite anomalies without loss of performance (only efficiency). Many of the most significant operations issues of our successful ongoing mission will be reported here along with lessons for future projects.

We present proof-of-concept results for a novel ultraviolet-sensitive, photon counting, solar blind detector that has the potential for high QE in a compact low voltage, low power, unsealed design. We utilize a delta-doped back-illuminated CCD to read out low energy electrons from a photocathode. In parallel, a new generation of high-QE ultraviolet-sensitive GaN photocathodes is being developed with initial success using delta-doping technology rather than cesiation. In this paper we present results with the new readout using a CsI test cathode, which produces events at under 1000 V accelerating potential.

Current multilayer designs for 10-80 keV hard X-ray telescope missions have focused primarily on the proven properties of W and Pt based multilayer coatings. Recently a number of new material combinations and coating capabilities have emerged which allows for more elaborate designs that can further extend the energy band of current mission designs as well as avoid some of the unwanted absorption edge effects in the effective area near potentially important line emission energies. These new design possibilities are investigated for current hard X-ray mission designs. The new material combinations to be considered are recently proven capabilities of enhanced NiV/C coatings and NiV/SiC coatings in conjuction with the well-established W based coatings.

The materials chosen for depth graded multilayer designs for hard x-ray telescopes (10 keV to 80 keV) have until now been focusing on W/Si, W/SiC, Pt/C, and Pt/SiC. These material combinations have been chosen because of good stability over time and low interface roughness, However both W and Pt have absorption edges in the interesting energy range from 70 - 80 keV. If looking at the optical constants Cu and Ni would be good alternative high-Z candidates since the k-absorption edges in Cu and Ni is below 10 keV. We have investigated both of these materials as the reflecting layer in combination with SiC as the spacer layer and give the performance in terms of roughness, minimum obtainable d-spacing and stability over time as deposited in our planar magnetron sputtering facility. Likewise we review the same properties of WC/SiC coatings which we have previously developed and which allow for very small d-spacings. The combination of WC/SiC or the well established W/SiC with the above mentioned Cu and Ni-containing multilayers in the same stack allows for novel telescope designs operating up to and above 100 keV without the absorption edge structure.

Future hard X-ray telescopes (e.g. SIMBOL-X and Constellation-X) will make use of hard X-ray optics with multilayer coatings, with angular resolutions comparable to the achieved ones in the soft X-rays. One of the crucial points in X-ray optics, indeed, is multilayer interfacial microroughness that causes effective area reduction and X-Ray Scattering (XRS). The latter, in particular, is responsible for image quality degradation. Interfacial smoothness deterioration in multilayer deposition processes is commonly observed as a result of substrate profile replication and intrinsic random deposition noise. For this reason, roughness growth should be carefully investigated by surface topographic analysis, X-ray reflectivity and XRS measurements. It is convenient to express the roughness evolution in terms of interface Power Spectral Densities (PSD), that are directly related to XRS and, in turn, in affecting the optic HEW (Half Energy Width). In order to interpret roughness amplification and to help us to predict the imaging performance of hard X-ray optics, we have implemented a well known kinetic continuum equation model in a IDL language program (MPES, Multilayer PSDs Evolution Simulator), allowing us the determination of characteristic growth parameters in multilayer coatings. In this paper we present some results from analysis we performed on several samples coated with hard X-ray multilayers (W/Si, Pt/C, Mo/Si) using different deposition techniques. We show also the XRS predictions resulting from the obtained modelizations, in comparison to the experimental XRS measurements performed at the energy of 8.05 keV.

Graded depth multi-layer coatings have the potential to optimise the performance of X-ray reflective surfaces for improved energy response. A study of deposition techniques on silicon substrates representative of the XEUS High Performance Pore Optics (HPO) technology has been carried out. Measurements at synchrotron radiation facilities have been used to confirm the excellent performance improvements achievable with Mo/Si and W/Si multilayers. Future activities that will be necessary to implement such coatings in the HPO assembly sequence are highlighted. Further coating developments that may allow an optimisation of the XEUS effective area in light of potential changes to science requirements and telescope configurations are also identified. Finally an initial measurement of effects of radiation damage within the multilayers is reported.

Japan's 6th X-ray satellite mission NeXT has completed pre-Phase-A study, and is waiting to advance to Phase-A/B. The X-Ray Telescope System onboard NeXT covers wide energy range from 0.3 to 80 KeV. The paper reviews current status on design and technology of the mission as written in the NeXT Mission Proposal on Oct. 2005.

Future hard (10-100 keV) X-ray telescopes (SIMBOL-X, Con-X, HEXIT-SAT, XEUS) will implement focusing optics with multilayer coatings: in view of the production of these optics we are exploring several deposition techniques for the reflective coatings. In order to evaluate the achievable optical performance X-Ray Reflectivity (XRR) measurements are performed, which are powerful tools for the in-depth characterization of multilayer properties (roughness, thickness and density distribution). An exact extraction of the stack parameters is however difficult because the XRR scans depend on them in a complex way. The PPM code, developed at ERSF in the past years, is able to derive the layer-by-layer properties of multilayer structures from semi-automatic XRR scan fittings by means of a global minimization procedure in the parameters space. In this work we will present the PPM modeling of some multilayer stacks (Pt/C and Ni/C) deposited by simple e-beam evaporation. Moreover, in order to verify the predictions of PPM, the obtained results are compared with TEM profiles taken on the same set of samples. As we will show, PPM results are in good agreement with the TEM findings. In addition, we show that the accurate fitting returns a physically correct evaluation of the variation of layers thickness through the stack, whereas the thickness trend derived from TEM profiles can be altered by the superposition of roughness profiles in the sample image.

Silicon pore optics have been proposed earlier as modular optical X-ray units in large Wolter-I telescopes that would match effective area and resolution requirements imposed by missions such as XEUS. Since then the optics have been developed further and the feasibility of the production of high-performance pore optics has been demonstrated. Optimisation of the production and the assembly process allowed the generation of optics with larger areas with improved imaging performance; Silicon pore optics can now be manufactured with properties required for future X-ray telescopes. A suitable design that allows the implementation of pore optics into X-ray Optical Units in Wolter I configuration was derived and recently built including an appropriate telescope mounting structure with interfaces for the individual components. Based on the present experience the requirements for industrial mirror production, optics assembly, related metrology and performance verification are reviewed from a viewpoint of its implementation into a large scale production. Such production may lead to the provision of the large number of X-ray optical units that are required within reasonably short time scales and a feasible cost envelope. The present outcome of this investigation and the prospects to future production and test facilities will be presented.

It has been demonstrated that silicon pore optics can serve as the new technology for building the next generation of X-ray telescopes for astronomical missions. In order to build up an optic in Wolter-I configuration, the high performance pore optics (HPO) have to be co-aligned and integrated into pairs, forming so-called X-ray optical units (XOU). The stringent co-alignment requirements for a 50 m focal length telescope like XEUS (e.g. 1 arcsecond between parabolic and hyperbolic HPO) demand holistic alignment concepts, which integrate the metrology, the fixation and the performance verification. The application in space and the resulting thermal requirements in combination with launch loads and other mechanical restrictions must also be considered. Finite element modelling of different fixation mechanisms and XOU configurations allow one both to assess difficulties at an early stage and to validate solution strategies. This paper reports on the concepts, which have been developed. The most promising candidate has been selected to build a form fit function model. The experimental set-up to align the HPOs, the required metrology and first results of the performance verification at test facilities will be shown and discussed.

New astronomical science missions demand X-ray telescopes with an angular resolution better than 5" and effective areas of up to 5 m² at 1 keV. Traditional technologies like nickel electro-forming or polished glass surfaces lead to long and heavy structures, which require prohibitive mass resources to achieve the required large collecting area. To overcome this problem an entirely novel technology using silicon wafers has been developed resulting in pore X-ray optics, which form very light, stiff and modular structures. The suitability of silicon wafers to be used as high quality optical material has been demonstrated and semiconductor industry have developed methods to structure the wafers such, that they can be assembled into segments of Wolter-I optics. For the assembly of these, so called High Performance Pore Optics (HPO), we have developed an automated production robot. The assembly process and the required metrology is described in detail and experimental methods are shown, which allow to assess the quality of the HPOs during production and to predict their performance when measured in synchrotron radiation facilities.

ESA is developing technologies for x-ray imaging to reduce the mass and volume of future missions. Applications of x-ray optics are foreseen in future planetary x-ray imagers, x-ray timing observatories and in observatories for high-energy astrophysics. With reference to planetary x-ray imagers the use of glass micro-pore material is being investigated. This technology allows the formation of a monolithic, glass structure that can be used to focus x-rays by glancing reflections off the pore walls. A technique to form x-ray focusing plates that contain thousands of square micro-pores has been developed with Photonis. The square pores are formed in a process that fuses blocks of extruded square fibres, which can then be sliced, etched and slumped to form the segment of an optic with a specific radius. A proposed imager would be created from 2 optics, slumped with different radii, and mounted to form an approximation of a Wolter I optic configuration. Reflection can be improved by coating the channel surfaces with a heavy element, such as nickel. Continuing developments have been made to enhance the manufacturing processes and improve the characteristics of the manufactured x-ray focusing plates, such as improved surface roughness and squareness of pore walls, improved pore alignment from fibre stacking through to optic segment slumping and development of pore wall coatings. In order to measure improvements x-ray measurements are performed by ESA and cosine Research BV, using the BESSY-II synchrotron facility four-crystal monochromator beamline of the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, on multifibres, sectors and slumped sectors. A probing beam is used to investigate a number of pores to determine x-ray transmission, focussing characteristics as they relate to the overall transmission, x-ray reflectivity of channel walls, radial alignment of fibres, slumping radius and fibre position in a fused block. SEM measurements and microscope inspection have also been used to inspect the channel walls and determine improvements made in fibre stacking and coating.

Recent development of the extremely light-weight micro pore optics based on the semiconductor MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical System) technologies is reported. Anisotropic chemical wet etching of silicon (110) wafers were utilized, in order to obtain a row of smooth (111) side walls vertical to the wafer face and to use them as X-ray mirrors. To obtain high performance mirrors with smooth surfaces and a high aspect ratio, several modifications were made to our previous manufacturing process shown in Ezoe et al. (2005). After these improvements, smooth surfaces with rms roughness of the order of angstroms and also a high aspect ratio of 20 were achieved. Furthermore, a single-stage optic was designed as a first step to multi-stage optics. A mounting device and a slit device for the sample optic were fabricated fully using the MEMS technologies and evaluated.

The Constellation-X mission planned for launch in 2015-2020 timeframe, will feature an array of Hard X-ray telescopes (HXT) with a total collecting area greater than 1500 cm² at 40 keV. Two technologies are being investigated for the optics of these telescopes, one of which is multilayer-coated Electroformed-Nickel-Replicated (ENR) shells. The attraction of the ENR process is that the resulting full-shell optics are inherently stable and offer the prospect of better angular resolution which results in lower background and higher instrument sensitivity. We are building a prototype HXT mirror module using an ENR process to fabricate the individual shells. This prototype consists of 5 shells with diameters ranging from 15 cm to 28 cm with a length of 42.6 cm. The innermost of these will be coated with iridium, while the remainder will be coated with graded d-spaced W/Si multilayers. The assembly structure has been completed and last year we reported on full beam illumination results from the first test shell mounted in this structure. We have now fabricated and coated two (15 cm and 23 cm diameter) 100 micron thick shells which have been aligned and mounted. This paper presents the results of full beam illumination X-ray tests, taken at MPE-Panter. The HEW of the individual shells will be discussed, in addition to results from the full two shell optic test.

We have developed advanced thin-foil substrates with a two-stage reflector for a large X-ray telescope. We successfully formed a magnesium foil with a figure error of a peak-to-peak value of 60 μm. This figure error has allowed a replication method in order to obtain smooth surface. We made a glass mandrel precisely shaped Wolter type-I optics by using the ELID method, then applied the replication to a 200 mm length aluminum foil at Nagoya University. After the replication, the figure error of the foil was improved by as much as factor 10. We evaluated the image quality of the replicated foil by using a collimated optical light at Ehime University, and we demonstrated the potential of the replication method. We report a current status of the development of the replication method.

To search for warm-hot intergalactic medium (WHIM), a small satellite mission DIOS (Diffuse Intergalactic Oxygen Surveyer ) is planned and a specially designed four-stage X-ray telescope (FXT) has been developed as the best fit optics to have a wide field of view and a large effective area. Based on the previous works such as the design of optics and replica foil mirror fabrication, we made the demonstration model of the FXT, which has a set of four-stage mirror supported by alignment plates to reduce alignment errors between different stages. On the selection of mirror surface metrial, we tried to increase the reflectivity of gold or platinum replica mirror at low energies. We are also trying to make Ni replica mandrel having the shape of four different cone angles for developing a full or partial shell of four-stage mirror formed in a same substrate. We describe the expected performance and alignment procedure of the demonstration model, the present status of the selection of mirror surface material and the development of Ni mandrel.

In our ongoing studies of high precision glass slumping we have successfully formed the first Wolter-I X-ray mirror segments with parabola and hyperbola in one piece. It could be demonstrated that the excellent surface roughness of the 0.55 mm thick display glass chosen is conserved during the slumping process. The influence of several parameters of the process, such as maximum temperature, heating and cooling rates etc. have to be measured and controlled with adequate metrology. Currently, we are optimizing the process to reduce the figure errors down to 1 micrometer what will be the starting point for further, final figure error corrections. We point out that metrology plays an important role in achieving a high precision optics, i.e. an angular resolution of a few arcsec. In this paper we report on the results of our studies and discuss them in the context of the requirements for future X-ray telescopes with large apertures.

The thermally formed thin glass foils and optically shaped Si wafers are considered to belong to the most promising technologies for future large space X-ray telescopes. We present and discuss the recent progress in these technologies, as well as properties of test mirrors produced and tested. For both technologies, both flat and curved samples have been produced and tested. The achieved profile accuracy is of order of 1 micrometer or better, while the bending technologies maintain the intrinsic fine surface microroughness of substrates (better than 0.5 nm for glass and around 0.1 nm for Si wafers).

We are developing hard-x-ray optics using an electroformed-nickel-replication process off superpolished mandrels. To date, we have fabricated over 100 shells for our HERO balloon payload with typical angular resolutions in the 13-15 arcsec range. This paper discusses the factors currently limiting this resolution and various developments geared towards the production of higher-resolution optics.

The quantitative study of the changes in the behavior of structures with scale is one of the oldest areas of physics: it was one of Galileo's "Two New Sciences". Nevertheless, it does not have the appreciation it deserves among high energy astrophysicists. While most understand the importance of collecting area and resolution, the connection between them is less well known. This matters: to make a good instrument one must exploit the applied physics, not fight against it. I will discuss counter-intuitive consequences of some well known scaling laws. I will show that for imaging instruments detector linear resolution is an under-appreciated performance driver. I will discuss the tradeoffs between modularization and integration. Attention to scaling issues has the potential to enable world class science from small instruments, increase the productivity of larger instruments, and transform extremely large instruments from impractical fantasies to practical realities.

X-rays provide one of the few bands through which we can study the epoch of reionization, when the first galaxies, black holes and stars were born. To reach the sensitivity required to image these first discrete objects in the universe needs a major advance in X-ray optics. Generation-X (Gen-X) is currently the only X-ray astronomy mission concept that addresses this goal. Gen-X aims to improve substantially on the Chandra angular resolution and to do so with substantially larger effective area. These two goals can only be met if a mirror technology can be developed that yields high angular resolution at much lower mass/unit area than the Chandra optics, matching that of Constellation-X (Con-X). We describe an approach to this goal based on active X-ray optics that correct the mid-frequency departures from an ideal Wolter optic on-orbit. We concentrate on the problems of sensing figure errors, calculating the corrections required, and applying those corrections. The time needed to make this in-flight calibration is reasonable. A laboratory version of these optics has already been developed by others and is successfully operating at synchrotron light sources. With only a moderate investment in these optics the goals of Gen-X resolution can be realized.

Future X-ray telescopes invariably require much higher angular resolutions and/or much larger effective areas than those already flown, and they will typically be designed and built with mirror segments, in contrast with the typical past X-ray telescope of complete shells. While the segmented approach has many advantages, it has one significant disadvantage: its complexity and difficulty associated with mirror segment alignment and integration. In this paper, we outline an approach, named "Fabricate and Assemble," that directly addresses this disadvantage. We will describe the necessary components, their fabrication, and their integration into a mirror assembly. The salient features of this approach include: (1) it fully realizes the optical performance potential of each mirror segment, (2) it leaves each mirror in a stress-free or minimally stressed state, resulting in a stress-free and therefore stable mirror assembly, (3) it assembles the mirror segment while it is supported so as to minimize or even eliminate the effect of gravity, and (4) it is highly amenable to being implemented as part of a sequential production line.

XEUS is the potential successor to ESA's XMM-Newton X-ray observatory and is being proposed in response to the Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 long term plan for ESA's Science Programme. A new mission configuration was developed in the last year, accommodating the boundary conditions of a European-led mission with a formation-flying mirror and detector spacecraft in L2 with a focal length of 35m and an effective area of >5 m² at 1 keV. Here the new capabilities are compared with the key scientific questions presented to the Cosmic Vision exercise: the evolution of large scale structure and nucleosynthesis, the co-evolution of supermassive black holes and their host galaxies, and the study of matter under extreme conditions.

We describe recent progress in the technology development program for the mirror system for the Constellation-X Spectroscopy X-ray Telescope (SXT). Development of this mirror represents a significant technology challenge, as it must provide a combination of large effective area (3 sq. m) and modest angular resolution (15 arc second half power diameter requirement; 5 arc second goal) with a limited mass allocation. The baseline design incorporates over 200 nested Wolter 1 mirrors. Each of these in turn is segmented in order to simplify handling of the mirrors and facilitate mass production. The X-ray reflecting surfaces are fabricated from thin, thermally formed glass sheets. Production improvements have yielded mirror segments that approach the performance requirement without the need for epoxy replication. A mounting and alignment approach incorporating piezoelectric actuators has been shown to manipulate mirror segments with the required precision without introducing significant distortion. Substantial improvements in metrology methodology have provided insights into the mirror segment forming and alignment processes. We describe the technical advances made over the past year and summarize near-term plans.

XEUS is the potential successor to ESA's XMM-Newton X-ray observatory and is being proposed in response to the Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 long term plan for ESA's Science Programme. Novel light-weight optics with an effective area of 5 m² at 1 keV and 2 m² at 7 keV and 2-5" HEW spatial resolution together with advanced detectors will provide much improved imaging, spectroscopic and timing performances and open new vistas in X-ray astronomy in the post 2015 timeframe. XEUS will allow the study of the birth, growth and spin of the super-massive black holes in early AGN, allow the cosmic feedback between galaxies and their environment to be investigated through the study of inflows and outflows and relativistic acceleration and allow the growth of large scale structures and metal synthesis to be probed using the hot X-ray emitting gas in clusters of galaxies and the warm/hot filamentary structures observable with X-ray absorption spectroscopy. High time resolution studies will allow the Equation of State of supra-nuclear material in neutron stars to be constrained. These science goals set very demanding requirements on the mission design which is based on two formation flying spacecraft launched to the second Earth-Sun Lagrangian point by an Ariane V ECA. One spacecraft will contain the novel high performance optics while the other, separated by the 35 m focal length, will contain narrow and wide field imaging spectrometers and other specialized instruments.

XEUS, the 'X-ray Early Universe Spectroscopy Mission', is a potential candidate for inclusion into the Cosmic Visions 1525 Science Programme of the European Space Agency ESA [1,2]. It is being studied jointly with the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency JAXA. The newly developed Silicon-based High resolution Pore Optics (HPO) combines low mass density with good angular resolution, and enables the development of novel mission design concepts for the implementation of a new generation of space based X-ray telescope [3, 4, 5]. This optics technology allows also for the application of complex reflective coatings [6], improving the effective area of the telescope and permitting an enhancement in the engineering of the desired response function. This paper gives an overview of the telescope optical design and optical bench architecture, including the deployment scheme. Further, the performance predictions based on ray tracing are discussed and the overall telescope design of XEUS is presented.