By M. Bavdaz

The Athena mission builds on the use of novel high performance X-ray optics, which combines low mass, good angular resolution and cost effective production. The Silicon Pore Optics technology is being developed by ESA and its industrial and institutional partners over the past decade.

The current status of the development is summarised in "the Athena optics development" contribution to the SPIE conference held in Edinburgh this year.

The photo shows Silicon Pore Optics mirror modules. The mirror plates are made of super polished Si wafers. They are bent and stacked to the correct shape and then mounted in between two Invar brackets. Credit: Cosine Research/ESA.