Simbol-X: mission overview
2006
Simbol-X is a hard X-ray mission, operating in the ~ 0.5-80 keV range, proposed as a collaboration between the French
and Italian space agencies with participation of German laboratories for a launch in 2013. Relying on two spacecraft in a
formation flying configuration, Simbol-X uses for the first time a 20-30 m focal length X-ray mirror to focus X-rays
with energy above 10 keV, resulting in over two orders of magnitude improvement in angular resolution and sensitivity
in the hard X-ray range with respect to non-focusing techniques. The Simbol-X revolutionary instrumental capabilities
will allow us to elucidate outstanding questions in high energy astrophysics such as those related to black-holes accretion
physics and census, and to particle acceleration mechanisms, which are the prime science objectives of the mission.
After having undergone a thorough assessment study performed by CNES in the context of a selection of a formation
flight scientific mission, Simbol-X has been selected for a phase A study to be jointly conducted by CNES and ASI. The
mission science objectives, the current status of the instrumentation and mission design are presented in this paper.
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