XMM Launch Preparations Date: 02.11.1998 The XMM spacecraft standing upside down in the clean room at ESA's ESTEC facility. Its front end, where the mirror modules of the X-ray telescopes pass through the satellite's service module, is closest to the ground.
At the top is the section containing detectors at the focus of the X-ray telescopes. Surmounting the assembly, a pair of cones will carry heat away from the detectors. XMM's appearance is, though, dominated by the long tube that spans the telescope's focal length, and by the black thermal blanket that will protect the spacecraft from unequal heating on the sunny and shaded sides.
