X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission
An artist's impression of the XMM-Newton satellite in orbit. (Credit: ESA/D. Ducros)
Lifetime: December 1999 - present
Operator (primary): European Space Agency
Primary Science
The X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission, called XMM-Newton for short, was an X-ray observatory designed to study the diffuse X-ray background, map the X-ray emitting gas in clusters of galaxies, survey stars and galaxies, perform diagnostic studies of accreting binary stars, study the temporal spectroscopic characteristics of active galactic nuclei and study the spectra of supernova remnants in nearby galaxies.