The European Space Agency's X-ray space observatory will be launched on December 10 by an Ariane 5 rocket, the ESA announced Friday.
The space agency said that the observatory, called the X-ray Multi-Mirror (XMM), will allow astronomers to study various sources of cosmic X-rays.
There are three telescopes mounted inside the observatory; in each telescope, there are 58 precisely-formed mirrors designed to catch the most amount of X-rays possible.
The precision-made mirrors, nested in clusters, will allow for increased gathering power and accurate focusing. Two of the three telescopes will include reflection-grating spectrometers for analysis of the X-ray compositions.
An Ariane 5 rocket will deposit the satellite in an elliptical orbit as high as 100,000 kilometers, clear of the Van Allen radiation belts. The observatory will be the rocket's first commercial payload.
Some 46 companies in 14 European nations along with one U.S. firm built the satellite. Dornier Satellite Systems is the crafts prime contractor.
The ESA's Director of Science, Roger-Maurice Bonnet, confirmed the satellite's Dec. 10 launch date Friday.
"All actions on the flight hardware of our spacecraft are closed, the science instruments are in flight configuration, everything is on schedule for the big day," Mr. Bonnet said in a statement.
The craft will start being fueled on November 15. The Ariane 5 rocket will arrive at the assembly building on November 19.
The next milestones in the satellite campaign will be the fuelling of the spacecraft, due to start on Monday 15th November, followed on the 19th by the arrival of the Ariane 5 launcher in the Final Assembly building, where the satellite is being prepared.
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