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XMM-Newton ○̉｜Definition｜1st｜20251119205401-00-⌔
XMM-Newton
XMM-Newton, also known as the High Throughput X-ray Spectroscopy Mission and the X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission, is an X-ray space observatory launched by the European Space Agency in December 1999 on an Ariane 5 rocket. It is the second cornerstone mission of ESA’s Horizon 2000 programme. Named after physicist and astronomer Sir Isaac Newton, the spacecraft is tasked with investigating interstellar X-ray sources, performing narrow- and broad-range spectroscopy, and performing the first simultaneous imaging of objects in both X-ray and optical (visible and ultraviolet) wavelengths.1
Initially funded for two years, with a ten-year design life, the spacecraft remains in good health and has received repeated mission extensions, most recently in March 2023 and is scheduled to operate until the end of 2026.[^5] ESA plans to succeed XMM-Newton with the Advanced Telescope for High Energy Astrophysics (ATHENA), the second large mission in the Cosmic Vision 2015–2025 plan, to be launched in 2035.2 XMM-Newton is similar to NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, also launched in 1999. The INTEGRAL space telescope complimented XMM-Newton in the gamma ray range.
As of May 2018, close to 5,600 papers have been published about either XMM-Newton or the scientific results it has returned.3
Printed 2026-06-28.
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Link to original Footnotes
“XMM-Newton: Objectives”. European Space Agency. 8 July 2011. Retrieved 5 February 2016. ↩
“Athena Mission Summary”. European Space Agency. 2 May 2022. Retrieved 28 November 2022. ↩
Kretschmar, Peter (2018). XMM-Newton Overall Mission Status (PDF). XMM-Newton Users’ Group Meeting #19. 17–18 May 2018. Villafranca del Castillo, Spain. ↩
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