ASTRO-E MISSION AND THE X-RAY SURVEY

The fifth Japanese X-ray astronomy satellite, Astro-E, following Hakuc ho, Tenma, Ginga, and ASCA is scheduled for launch in the year 2000 by the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) with an M-V r ocket. The satellite will be put into an approximately circular orbit with an altitude of similar to 550 km and an inclination of similar to 31 degrees. There will be three experiments on board Astro-E: an X-ra y micro-calorimeter array, four X-ray CCDs and a hard X-ray detector. All three experiments combined, Astro-E will become a spectrometer fac ility covering a wide energy band from 0.5 keV to 600 keV.