BEPPOSAX, THE WIDE-BAND MISSION FOR X-RAY ASTRONOMY

The X-ray satellite SAX, a major program of the Italian Space Agency w ith participation of the Netherlands Agency for Aereospace Programs, w as launched on April 30 1996 from Cape Canaveral. After launch it was renamed BeppoSAX in honour of Giuseppe (Beppo) Occhialini. The payload is characterized by a very wide spectral coverage from 0.1 to 300 keV , with well balanced performances both from its low and high energy in strumentation. Its sensitivity will allow the exploitation of the full band for weak sources (1/20 of 3C 273), opening new perspectives in t he study of spectral shape and variability of several classes of objec ts. Furthermore, the presence of wide field cameras will allow monitor ing of the long term variability of sources down to 1 mCrab and the di scovery of X-ray transient phenomena. In this paper we describe the ma in aspects of the mission, the operations, the scientific capabilities of the instruments and the scientific objectives.