eXTP

Studying the state of matter

The enhanced X-ray Timing and Polarimetry mission (eXTP) is a China-led science mission designed to study the state of matter under extreme conditions of density, gravity and magnetism.

Matter under extreme conditions

The primary goals are the determination of the equation of state of matter at supra-nuclear density, the measurement of QED effects in highly magnetised stars, and the study of accretion in the strong-field regime of gravity. Primary targets include isolated and binary neutron stars, strong magnetic field systems like magnetars, and stellar-mass and supermassive black holes.

The mission carries a unique and unprecedented suite of state-of-the-art instruments enabling for the first time ever the simultaneous spectral-timing-polarimetry studies of cosmic sources in the energy range from 0.5 to 30 keV.

ICE-CSIC's participation

The LAD and the WFM instruments (already pre-designed during the LOFT feasibility study - ESA M3 call - by an EU consortium including ICE), will be provided by Europe, in the framework of a global EU participation in the Chinese mission eXTP. There's a very relevant Spanish participation led by ICE-CSIC, at the level of IP of the WFM; ICE-CSIC will provide the collimator, coded mask and mechanical support of the detector assemblies for all the cameras, plus the mechanical and thermal configuration of the whole WFM, and be responsible of the Assembly, Integration, Verification and Test of the WFM cameras.