ESA Science Core Technology Development Success Story - Game-Changing European X-Ray Optics Technology [Aug/2022]
A pan-European consortium of industry and research
organisations is leveraging semiconductor manufacturing capabilities to achieve
a 2-order of magnitude improvement in space X-ray telescope optics (by
developing the concept of Silicon Pore Optics – SPO), funded by ESA’s Science
Core Technology programme. Netherlands based cosine was selected to lead a
large European consortium composed of many industry and academic stakeholders
to develop SPO for ATHENA.
Talks to develop the next generation of European space
observatory started in 1999, around the launch of XMM Newton, and highlighted
from the very beginning that existing optics technology would not be suitable
to build telescopes of the scale envisioned. The concept of Silicon Pore Optics
was thus invented and developed in the following two decades to respond to this
gap. SPO has now become the mission-enabling technology for ATHENA, the second
large class mission in the ESA Science Programme.
Cosine’s work on SPO has directly contributed to job creation
and highly skilled employment within the Dutch economy. Overall, the work done
on developing the optics for ATHENA will support more than 100 jobs through to
flight phase for the suppliers, integrators and other actors.
Through its SPO work, cosine has built more than 30 new
partnerships with industry and academia in and beyond the space sector. cosine
is utilising its CTP-funded activities to inform the development of Laue
lenses, which could potentially improve radiotherapy treatment accuracy and
recovery outcomes for cancer patients. Additional terrestrial applications
include offerings to the semi-conductor industry. The semiconductor market is
fast-growing (CAGR of 10.4% between 2016 and 2021), and was valued at around
€550 billion in 2022, highlighting opportunities for cosine to expand revenues.
The full case study report can be accessed in the restricted
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The infographics can be accessed in the restricted area here
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This initiative is led by ESA’s Science Core Technology
Programme. More information can be accessed at ESA
- Science Core Technology Programme (CTP).