[FPSPACE] SPACE MISSION XEUS PROBES ORIGINS OF THE UNIVERSE

[LARRY KLAES]

>From: "AAS Press Officer Dr. Steve Maran" <Steve.Maran at aas.org>
>To: "AAS Press Officer Dr. Steve Maran" <steve.maran at aas.org>
>Subject: U. Leicester: SPACE MISSION XEUS PROBES ORIGINS OF THE UNIVERSE
>Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 17:41:22 -0400
>

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ENDORSEMENT BY THE AMERICAN ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY.)  Steve Maran, American 
Astronomical Society  steve.maran at aas.org  1-202-328-2010 x116

PIO Source:
Ather Mirza
tel: +44 (0) 116 252 3335
email: pressoffice at le.ac.uk

Contact:
Professor M.J.L.Turner CBE, B.Sc, Ph.D, D.Sc.
Department of Physics & Astronomy
University of Leicester
Leicester LE1 7RH
Tel: +44 (0) 1162 523514

SPACE MISSION XEUS PROBES ORIGINS OF THE UNIVERSE
Leicester Professor in the vanguard of pioneering new project

IMAGES AVAILABLE FROM pressoffice at le.ac.uk

A University of Leicester astrophysicist is playing a pivotal role in a 
mission that seeks to study the origins of the universe.

Professor Martin Turner of the Department of Physics and Astronomy is 
Co-Principal Investigator on XEUS - a next-generation X-ray space 
observatory.

XEUS, which stands for X-ray Evolving Universe Spectroscopy, aims to study 
the fundamental laws of the Universe. With unprecedented sensitivity to the 
hot, million-degree universe, XEUS will explore key areas of contemporary 
astrophysics: growth of supermassive black holes, cosmic feedback and galaxy 
evolution, evolution of large-scale structures, extreme gravity and matter 
under extreme conditions, the dynamical evolution of cosmic plasmas and 
cosmic chemistry.

Professor Turner is also Chair of the XEUS International Steering committee. 
He said: XEUS is an X-ray observatory 30-50 times more sensitive than 
XMM-Newton, which will be placed 1.5 million km from Earth, beyond the Moon, 
at the second Lagrangian point, a quiet stable location where the 
instruments can observe the universe undisturbed.

"Because it is so large, the observatory has two spacecraft. The five-metre 
diameter X-ray lens is in one, and the instruments in another. The two 
spacecraft fly together, 35 metres apart, to keep the instruments at the 
focus of the lens.

"XEUS has been selected for study by ESA as part of its Cosmic Vision 
programme. If the study outcome is successful it will be launched on Ariane 
5 from Kourou in 2018.

"We have been developing the XEUS concept for an advanced X-ray observatory, 
for many years. This acceptance by ESA is a major step forward for X-ray 
astronomers all over the world."

"The million degree universe, where gravity is the main source of energy, is 
the finest physics laboratory we have. XEUS will help us find out about the 
behaviour of matter under extreme conditions of temperature, pressure, and 
gravity. It will also let us study the influence of black holes on the 
formation of galaxies and stars; and ultimately planets and ourselves."

Dr Richard Willingale, of the University of Leicester and chairman of the 
XEUS telescope working group said, "XEUS will use new lightweight silicon 
optics to make the lens, the same material used to make silicon chips; one 
of the instruments has sensors cooled to within a tiny fraction of absolute 
zero to study the chemistry and physics of matter surrounding black holes."

Various international Space Agencies have expressed interest in cooperation 
in XEUS and discussions will start by the end of the year to ensure the 
earliest involvement in study work.

All the candidate missions are now competing in an assessment cycle which 
ends in 2011. Before the end of the cycle, there will be an important 
selection foreseen in 2009. At the end of this process, two missions will be 
proposed for implementation to ESA's Science Programme Committee, with 
launches planned for 2017 and 2018 respectively.

The selected missions fit well within the themes of ESA's Cosmic Vision 
2015-2025 plan. The themes range from the conditions for life and planetary 
formation, to the origin and formation of the Solar System, the fundamental 
laws of our cosmos and the origin, structure and evolution of the Universe.

"The maturity of most of the proposals received demonstrates the excellence 
of the scientific community in Europe. This made the task of the SSAC very 
difficult but we believe that the set of selected missions will shape the 
future of European space science," said Tilman Spohn, chairperson of the 
SSAC (German Aerospace Center, Berlin). "The next decade will indeed be very 
exciting for the scientific exploration of space."

According to the chair of the Astronomy Working Group (AWG), Tommaso 
Maccacaro, (INAF ? Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera) "The chosen 
candidates for astronomy missions show very promising and broad scientific 
return and have received excellent recommendations also from external 
referees."

"Technical feasibility and potential for successful cooperation with other 
agencies are two factors which are clearly evident in the Solar System 
missions that have been chosen," added Nick Thomas at the Physikalisches 
Institut, Universitaet Bern, chair of the Solar System Working Group.

In 2004, Professor Turner was honoured with a CBE for services to X-ray 
astronomy. Paying tribute to his colleague, Professor George Fraser, 
Director of the Space Research Centre, said at the time: "The award of a CBE 
to Martin Turner is very well-deserved recognition of a tremendous 
contribution to the field of X-ray Astronomy in a career of over thirty 
years here at Leicester. Martin has, perhaps uniquely, led the development 
of three major instruments in the field -launched on the EXOSAT (1983), 
Ginga (1987) and XMM-Newton (1999) ?of which he is Principal Investigator- 
satellites. The last of these - the EPIC camera -has now performed 
flawlessly in orbit for four years. Martin, nothing daunted, is also heavily 
involved in the initial design stages of the successor to XMM, a giant 
European observatory called XEUS."

PIO Source:
Ather Mirza
tel: +44 (0) 116 252 3335
email: pressoffice at le.ac.uk

Contact:
Professor M.J.L.Turner CBE, B.Sc, Ph.D, D.Sc.
Department of Physics & Astronomy
University of Leicester
Leicester LE1 7RH
Tel: +44 (0) 1162 523514
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