An international astrophysics laboratory
A short history of gamma radiation studies
In 1972, NASA's SAS-2 probe confirmed that the Universe is constantly bombarded with gamma radiation. ESA's COS-B satellite made the first map of radiation sources in 1975, detecting intense outbursts of energy from certain points. The HEAO and GRANAT missions, using the Sigma telescope and later the CGRO mission led to further progress.
A project of international scope
The Integral project began in 1993 as part of the "Horizons 2000" scientific programme, led by the European Space Agency (ESA), taking up where the Huygens probe towards Saturn left off. It precedes the Planck observatory, which in 2008 will start listening for microwave emissions from the Universe, to try to determine their origins.
Russia and the United States are also actively participating in the programme. Russia is responsible for launching the satellite, while NASA is in charge of ground receiving stations.
Industrial organization
ESA has allocated responsibility for technical oversight of the project
to Alenia Aerospazio (Italy), which, in turn, has shared the workload
for construction of the satellite among 26 contractors in 12 European
countries.
Thermal vacuum tests on SPI spectrometer ; credits CNES/E.Grimault
CNES, in collaboration with numerous French and international laboratories, is in charge of project management for the SPI spectrometer, one of the two main instruments. The IBIS imaging system was designed by Italy, with significant French participation, through CNES and particularly CEA, the French atomic energy agency. Building the instruments posed a difficult technological challenge for engineers, because gamma rays are so intense that they simply pass through an ordinary mirror.
