ESA - Integral - Overview

Integral in brief

Integral overview

Integral factsheet A truly international mission

About Integral

The spacecraft The launcher The launch site - Baikonur The journey

Integral's mission

What's special?Why do we observe gamma rays?Observations: Seeing in the gamma-ray wavelengths The atoms that make us The densest objects in the Universe Giant black holes Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs)

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Image gallery Pre-launch images, Sept 2002 Pre-launch images, October 2002 Video gallery 3D Flash 'model'Make a model

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Overview

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Integral has two main detectors on board: an imager and a spectrometer. These instruments are supported by two monitor instruments: an X-ray monitor and an optical camera. All four instruments are co-aligned and observe the same region of the sky simultaneously. This allows scientists to clearly identify gamma-ray sources, a key feature in studying high-energy processes in the violent Universe.

All instruments are provided by large collaborations encompassing many scientific institutes in the ESA member states, United States, Russia, Czech Republic and Poland. Principal investigators in different European countries lead the nationally funded collaborations.

Credits: ESA 2002

History

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Integral launched at 06:41 CEST 17 October 2002 from Baikonur in Kazakhstan.

Credits: ESA - S.Corvaja

ESA's gamma-ray astronomy mission

Observations: Seeing in the gamma-ray wavelengths Observations: Seeing in X-ray wavelengths