Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer
An artist's impression of the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer spacecraft in oribt. (Credit: NASA)
The Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer spacecraft undergoes pre-launch tests. (Credit: NASA)
Lifetime: December 1995 - January 2012
Country (primary): United States
Primary Science
The Rossi Timing X-ray Explorer, or RXTE for short, was designed to study time variability in the emission of X-ray sources over timescales from microseconds to months.
Science Highlights
- Discovered kilohertz quasi-periodic oscillations
- Discovered the spin periods in low-mass X-ray binary systems
- Detected X-ray afterglows of gamma-ray bursts