Athena X-ray Observatory

ESA's Athena X-ray Observatory,is planned to survey a violent Universe of exploding stars, black holes and million-degree gas clouds. But simply focusing X-rays is no easy task: they reflect only side on, like stones skimming along a pond. So ESA has pioneered the new technology of silicon pore optics – the careful robotic stacking of thousands of silicon wafers – to provide improved resolution and a greatly enlarged collecting area compared to current X-ray missions.