THE TAUVEX SPACE ASTRONOMY EXPERIMENT

The TAUVEX space astronomy experiment will image wide sky areas in the 190-280 nm spectral region. The experiment is part of the SODART tele scope complex on the Spectrum X-Gamma (SRG) spacecraft, and functions as a separate scientific instrument and service system for the spacecr aft. TAUVEX consists of three bore-sighted telescopes with 20 cm diame ter Ritchey-Chretien optics. Each telescope has a four-position filter wheel and can select one of six UV bands in the spectral region of op eration. The photon-counting, imaging detectors cover a field of view of 0.9 degrees, with 80% of the energy from a point source within 10 a rcsec, sampled at 3 arcsec intervals. The sensitivity allows the detec tion of 10-11 mag stars in 2 sec, and 20 mag stars in a typical SRG po inting of 5 hr. TAUVEX provides off-line aspect solutions for the SODA RT focal plane instruments and on-line fine pointing information to th e SRG attitude and control system. The experiment is being constructed by EI-Op Electro-Optical Industries Ltd, and is financially supported by the Government of Israel, through the Israel Space Agency, and the Ministry of Science and Arts. By mid-1994, four models of TAUVEX had been produced and supplied to the SRG integrators: size and mass model s in 1992, a thermal model in early 1993, and an engineering model in spring 1994. A qualification model is being tested at El-Op and the fl ight model will be ready, after testing, burn-in and calibration, in t he first quarter of 1997. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.