THE GENERATION-X MISSION: BENEFITS OF A HEAVYLIFT CAPABILITY

摘要

Generation-X (Gen-X) is a very-large-area, high-angular-resolution X-ray telescope under study for launch in the 2030s. It will be an ambitious successor to the current Chandra and XMM-Newton X-ray observatories and to the planned International X-ray Observatory (IXO). We discuss the scientific goals of the Gen-X mission, its mission architecture, and its technology challenges. We show how a heavy-lift capability-such as that planned for NASA's Ares V-streamlines the Gen-X architecture and reduces mission cost. In particular, we emphasize mission-design trades driven by shroud dimensions and lift capability.