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X-ray Astronomy at JAXA Japan's Leading-Edge X-ray Astronomy: Unveiling the Mysteries of a Dynamic Universe
ASTRO-EII Launched Into Space - Summer 2005
Having supplied data from the ASCA satellite to researchers around the world, Japan truly succeeded in establishing its position as a world leader in X-ray astronomy. However, the next X-ray observatory mission, ASTRO-E, regrettably failed, despite all efforts. Nonetheless, other countries have continued to expect great things from Japan, and the ASTRO-EII mission began the comeback.
Unveiling the Mysteries of the Universe

An astronomical observatory for the world, with new observation tools

ASTRO-EII is Japan's fifth X-ray astronomy satellite. However, because ASTRO-E had to abort its entry into orbit in February 2000, this new satellite is rather a "revival."

ASTRO-E was launched just after the United Sates and Europe succeeded in launching their new advanced satellites, Chandra and XMM-Newton respectively, in 1999. Alongside these two, ASTRO-E was supposed to be one of three major X-ray observatories of the new millennium. Ironically, the mission suffered the same fate as one of its predecessors, CORSA, which was to be Japan's first X-ray astronomy satellite, and failed to make orbit. Despite this setback, even five years later, ASTRO-E is still internationally recognized as a very significant mission, and its successor, ASTRO-EII, was created in order to complete the mission.
The international recognition of the significance of this mission may be due to Japan's long record of reliability, and the achievements of ASCA, Japan's previous X-ray astronomy satellite.

ASTRO-EII ExteriorSo, what are the characteristics of ASTRO-EII? What is the satellite going to reveal? Prof. Tadayuki Takahashi, who is involved in the project at the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, JAXA, answered these questions: "The goal of ASTRO-EII is to uncover the mysteries of the universe. To that end, there are two main objectives: first, to find something that no one has ever seen using observation instruments no one has ever had; and secondly, to turn ASTRO-EII into an observatory for the world."

ASTRO-EII carries various observation tools that use high-quality spectroscopy and precisely analyze the whole range of X-rays, from low-energy soft X-rays to high-energy hard X-rays, as well as gamma rays. The goal of the mission is to use these instruments to study high-energy activities, including the expansion and contraction of galaxy clusters and the formation of black holes after explosions of large and heavy stars.

ASTRO-EII will be appreciated around the world, as it becomes an "observatory in orbit" for all countries. This idea was announced and advertised internationally even before the launch, and the competition for research time is getting tougher, as applications continue to pour in.
With the previous mission, ASCA, and ASTRO-EII is also a collaborative project with the United States.



1 | 2 | 3 One of the World's Three Key Stars
1. What Is X-ray Astronomy? 2. Japan's Leading-Edge X-ray Astronomy 3. ASTRO-EII Launched into Space - Summer 2005
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