Einstein Probe

Einstein Probe is an X-ray astronomy mission led by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, developed in partnership with ESA and Germany's Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics. Its Wide-field X-ray Telescope uses lobster-eye micro-channel optics to survey 3,840 square degrees per pointing - roughly one-tenth of the entire sky - allowing the spacecraft to scan half the sky within about five hours. A pair of Follow-up X-ray Telescopes using Wolter-I mirror assemblies provides high-resolution observations of any transients the survey detects.

The mission targets high-energy transient phenomena that require continuous sky patrol: X-ray flares from dormant black holes activated by tidal disruption of passing stars, neutron star mergers, and the electromagnetic counterparts of gravitational wave events.