Home page About the company Products Projects Employment Contact details News archive Dec. 1999

Launch of XMM Satellite The launch of the European Space Agency's XMM (X-Ray Multi-Mirror) satellite was scheduled for Friday the 10th of December. The launch window began at 14:35 GMT. CAPTEC supplied the on-board attitude and orbit control software for the satellite. This software, written in Ada, was developed and validated at CAPTEC before being delivered on schedule to Matra Marconi Space (UK). The software was then succesfully integrated with the hardware and the spacecraft. To promote the launch of the new space observatory, ESA ran a competition for secondary schools from every country in Europe to submit essays about XMM. An entire class of 24 students from Malahide Community School won a trip to visit ESA's launch site at Kourou in French Guiana during November. The photo is of the students from Malahide Community School at the ESA launch centre in Kourou. A model of Ariane 5 (used to launch the XMM satellite) is shown in the background. The XMM satellite provides an X-Ray observatory in space for use by the world's scientific community. The telescope is the most sensitive yet to be available in space. It also includes an optical monitor that will allow simultaneous X-Ray, UV and visible measurements. The uses envisaged for this satellite include examination of the black holes that may exist in the centre of galaxies, measurements of supernovae, and investigations into the dark matter pervading the universe. For more information about: The XMM satellite, please visit ESA's web site at: http://sci.esa.int/xmm The latest news about the XMM launch: http://sci.esa.int/missions/xmm Video broadcast of the launch: http://television.esa.int 3, St. James Terrace, Malahide, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Tel: +353-1-8450921 Fax: +353-1-8450136 Email: mail@captec.ie URL: http://www.captec.ie