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| HEA: Missions | ||||
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Chandra X-ray Observatory
Since its launch on July 23, 1999, the Chandra X-ray Observatory has been NASA's flagship mission for X-ray astronomy, taking its place in NASA's fleet of "Great Observatories". The scientific and mission operations for Chandra are conducted by the Chandra X-ray Center (CXC) housed within the HEA Division. 
Hinode XRT
The Hinode X-Ray Telescope (XRT) is a high-resolution grazing-incidence telescope, which is a successor to the highly successful Yohkoh Soft X-Ray Telescope (SXT). A primary purpose of the Hinode XRT is to observe the generation, transport, and emergence of solar magnetic fields. 
Transition Region and Coronal Explorer(TRACE )
TRACE is a NASA Small Explorer (SMEX) mission to image the solar corona and transition region at high angular and temporal resolution in UV and Extreme UV wavelengths. TRACE was launched on a Pegasus launch vehicle from Vandenberg Air Force Base in April 1998, and has made a large contribution to our understanding of the dynamics of the solar corona. TRACE is a joint project of SAO and Lockheed-Martin for NASA.
International X-Ray Observatory
The International X-ray Observatory (IXO) is a new X-ray telescope with joint participation from NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and Japan's Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). This project supersedes both NASA's Constellation-X and ESA's XEUS mission concepts. 
EXIST
The Energetic X-ray Imaging Survey Telescope (EXIST) is a proposed hard X-ray deep survey mission that would image the entire sky during each 95-minute orbit. EXIST's primary objective is to study the birth and evolution of black holes on all size scales with a temporal range from microseconds to years. 
Generation-X
With image quality comparable to that of HST and collecting area 1000 times that of Chandra, the proposed X-ray observatory Gen-X will observe the first generation of black holes, stars, and galaxies and trace their evolution to the present epoch. 
Pharos
By slewing around to catch the bright but fleeting X-ray emission of Gamma-ray bursts, Pharos will 'X-ray the Universe' by capturing high resolution X-ray spectra of the web of hot tenuous gas pervading intergalactic space. 
Atmospheric Imaging Assembly
The Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) investigation is a part of the Solar Dynamics Observatory mission that is the lead mission of the NASA Living With a Star program. The goal of the AIA investigation is to further our understanding of the magnetic activity in the Sun's atmosphere, leading towards a better capability for predicting space weather.
Suborbital Missions
The X-ray astronomy team at American Science and Engineering, which later became the nucleus of the CfA's HEA group, discovered the first extrasolar X-ray source in 1962 using a sounding rocket. During the 1960s and 1970s, suborbital sounding rockets were the pioneering instruments used to study the X-ray sky until they were superseded by longer-lived orbiting observatories. 
Uhuru
Uhuru was the first successful orbital X-ray astronomy mission. Small Astronomical Satellite A became Explorer 42 after launch from the San Marco platform off the Kenyan coast on 1970 Dec 12, and was also given the Swahili name Uhuru in commemoration of the launch site. Uhuru carried out a 2-10 keV sky survey, generating successively improved X-ray source catalogs culminating in the 4U (4th Uhuru) catalog. 
Einstein
The Einstein Observatory was the first orbiting X-ray observatory to use an imaging telescope for making pictures of extrasolar X-ray sources.
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