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The Silicon Pore Optics (SPO) enables the NewAthena mission, delivering an unprecedented combination of good angular resolution, large effective area and low mass. The SPO technology builds significantly on spin-in from the semiconductor industry and is designed to allow a cost-effective flight optics implementation, compliant with the programmatic requirements of the mission.
The NewAthena X-ray optics is highly modular, consisting of hundreds of compact mirror modules arranged in concentric circles and mounted on a metallic optical bench. All aspects of the optics are being developed in parallel, from the industrial production of the mirror plates, over the highly efficient assembly into mirror modules, to the alignment of the mirror modules and their fixation on the optical bench. Dedicated facilities are being built to measure the performance of the NewAthena X-ray telescope optics, demonstrating their compatibility with the environmental and scientific requirements.
An overview is provided of the activities preparing the implementation of the NewATHENA optics.
We present in this paper the status of the optics production and illustrate not only recent X-ray results but also the progress made on the environmental testing, manufacturing and assembly aspects of SPO based optics.
The next generation x-ray observatory ATHENA (advanced telescope for high energy astrophysics) requires an optics with unprecedented performance. It is the combination of low mass, large effective area and good angular resolution that is the challenge of the x-ray optics of such a mission. ATHENA is the second large class mission in the science programme of ESA, and is currently in a reformulation process, following a design-to-cost approach to meet the cost limit of an ESA L-class mission.
The silicon pore optics (SPO) is the mission enabler being specifically developed for ATHENA, in a joint effort by industry, research institutions and ESA. All aspects of the optics are being addressed, from the mirror plates and their coatings, over the mirror modules and their assembly into the ATHENA telescope, to the facilities required to build and test the flight optics, demonstrating performance, robustness, and programmatic compliance.
The SPO technology is currently being matured to the level required for the adoption of the ATHENA mission, i.e., the start of the mission implementation phase. The monocrystalline silicon material and pore structure of the SPO provide these optics with excellent thermal and mechanical properties. Benefiting from technology spin-in from the semiconductor industry, the equipment, processes, and materials used to produce the SPO are highly sophisticated and optimised.
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