Artist's impression, showing Integral instruments

Integral has two main detectors on board: an imager and a spectrometer. These instruments are supported by two monitor instruments: an X-ray monitor and an optical camera. All four instruments are co-aligned and observe the same region of the sky simultaneously. This allows scientists to clearly identify gamma-ray sources, a key feature in studying high-energy processes in the violent Universe.

All instruments are provided by large collaborations encompassing many scientific institutes in the ESA member states, United States, Russia, Czech Republic and Poland. Principal investigators in different European countries lead the nationally funded collaborations.