University of Zielona Góra became a part of the Polish Consortium ATHENA-PL. The aim of the Consortium is to coordinate the activities of scientists and engineers from Poland within the project of construction and use of the ATHENA satellite (Advanced Telescope for High-Energy Astrophysics) – informs Ewa Sapeńko the university spokesman.
ATHENA will observe the sky in the soft X-ray radiation and add the knowledge about the evolution of clusters of matter in space. The Polish team will take care of construction of subassemblies of one of the two main instruments and simulations allowing to assess the possibilities of observation of various phenomena and objects.
The consortium is formed by the Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN), Space Research Center PAS and Center for Theoretical Physics PAS in Warsaw, National Center for Nuclear Research in Otwock, as well as Jagiellonian, Wroclaw, Szczecin, Lodz, Zielona Gora, Bialystok, Kielce and Torun universities.