50 years of space science at Leicester

1990 ROSAT launched (June 1). ROSAT’s payload included the main (German) X-ray telescope operated in the soft X-ray band with an EUV capability provided by the Leicester-led ROSAT EUV telescope and Wide Field Camera. [added by MGW]

1991 The Japanese X-ray Observatory, GINGA, carrying the largest-ever X-ray (31 Oct) camera, designed and built in Leicester, re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere to-day, after 4 and a half years of near-perfect operation.

1993 Second National Astronomy Meeting (NAM) held at Leicester

1993 Leicester University scientists report on observations of the Hyades Star Cluster, a group of stars only a tenth as old as the Sun, with the ROSAT X-ray satellite. Their findings suggest the Sun would have been much more active when younger, making life on the inner planets (including the Earth) impossible.

1999 University scientists receive a major boost with the successful launch on Ariane 5 (10 Dec) of the world’s most powerful X-ray Observatory. The 3-tonne ESA mission named XMM-Newton is equipped with 3 large telescopes and sensitive X-ray cameras, the latter built in Leicester.