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INTEGRAL
The International Gamma-Ray Astrophysics
Laboratory (INTEGRAL) of the European Space Agency was successfully launched
on October 17, 2002. It was lifted off from Baikonur in Kazakhstan on
a Russian Proton launcher and is now on a 72-hour elliptical orbit,
ranging from 9,000 km up to 155,000 km from Earth.
INTEGRAL is the successor of the ESA gamma-ray observatory Cos-B
and the NASA gamma-ray Observatory CGRO. It will produce a complete map
of the sky in the soft gamma-ray waveband and it is capable
of performing high spectral and spatial observations in gamma rays.
The observatory is also equipped with X-ray and optical detectors
to provide simultaneous observations in these wavebands.
Mission Characteristics Lifetime :
October 2002 - (nominal 2 year mission, extented up to December 2008) Energy Range :
3 keV - 10 MeV and Optical V-band Special Features
: High spectral and spatial resolution. Simultaneous Gamma-ray, X-ray and Optical observations. Payload :
[INTEGRAL Guest Observer Facility] INTEGRAL artist's view courtesy of ESA. |
