@inproceedings{7d516c9e887f4e80a5820309130db03a,
title = "The Athena x-ray optics development and accommodation",
abstract = "The ATHENA mission, under study and preparation by ESA as its second Large-class science mission, requires the largest X-ray optics ever flown, building on a novel optics technology based on mono crystalline silicon. Referred to as Silicon Pore Optics technology (SPO), the optics is highly modular and benefits from technology spin-in from the semiconductor industry. The telescope aperture of about 2.5 meters is populated by 600 mirror modules, accurately co -aligned to produce a common focus. The development of the SPO technology is a joint effort by European industrial and research entities, working together to address the challenges to demonstrate the imaging performance, robustness and efficient series production of the ATHENA optics. A technology development plan was established and is being regularly updated to reflect the latest developments, and is fully funded by the ESA technology development programmes. An industrial consortium was formed to ensure coherence of the individual technology development activities. The SPO technology uses precision machined mirror plates produced using thelatest generation top quality 12 inch silicon wafers, which are assembled into rugged stacks. The surfaces of the mirror plates and the integral support structure is such, that no glue is required to join the individual mirror plates. Once accurately aligned with respect to each other, the surfaces of the mirror plates merge in a physical bonding process. The resultant SPO mirror modules are therefore very accurate and stable and can sustain the harsh conditions encountered during launch and are able to tolerate the space environment expected during operations. The accommodation of the ATHENA telescope is also innovative, relying on a hexapod mechanismto align the optics to the selected detector instruments located in the focal plane. Systemstudies are complemented by dedicated technology development activities to demonstrate the capabilities before the adoption of the ATHENA mission.",
keywords = "ATHENA, Silicon Pore Optics, Technology preparation, X-ray astronomy, X-ray optics, X-ray telescopes, X-ray testing",
author = "Marcos Bavdaz and Eric Wille and Mark Ayre and Ivo Ferreira and Brian Shortt and Sebastiaan Fransen and Mark Millinger and Collon, \{Maximilien J.\} and Giuseppe Vacanti and Barri{\`e}re, \{Nicolas M.\} and Boris Landgraf and Riekerink, \{Mark Olde\} and Jeroen Haneveld and Ronald Start and \{van Baren\}, Coen and \{Monica Ferreira\}, \{Desiree Della\} and Sonny Massahi and Sara Svendsen and Finn Christensen and Michael Krumrey and Evelyn Handick and Vadim Burwitz and Miranda Bradshaw and Giovanni Pareschi and Giuseppe Valsecchi and Dervis Vernani and Geeta Kailla and William Mundon and Gavin Phillips and Jakob Schneider and Tapio Korhonen and Alejandro Sanchez and Dominique Heinis and Massimiliano Tordi and Richard Willingale",
note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 ESA and CNES; 2020 International Conference on Space Optics, ICSO 2020 ; Conference date: 30-03-2021 Through 02-04-2021",
year = "2021",
doi = "10.1117/12.2599341",
language = "English",
series = "Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering",
publisher = "SPIE - International Society for Optical Engineering",
editor = "O'Dell, \{Stephen L. \} and \{ Gaskin\}, \{Jessica A.\} and Pareschi, \{Giovanni \}",
booktitle = "Proceedings of SPIE",
}